Pergamon Journal of Tronsporr Geography Vol. 4. No. 4. pp 309-310. 1996

Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain 0966.6923196 $15.tX~+O.O0

TGRG: Transport Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers

At the beginning of 1996, following the practice of the merged Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, the Transport Geography Study Group became the Transport Geography Research Group. The modification in nomenclature coincided with major changes to the Committee. Dr Derek Hall (Scottish Agricultural College), who had served as Secretary (1990-1993) and then Chairman (1993-1996) stood down to be succeeded by MS Jose Smith (Salford). Dr Brian Graham (University of Ulster at Coleraine) became the new Secretary. The TGRG owes a most significant debt to Derek for his enthus- iastic and effective efforts on its behalf, both in the UK and abroad, and the Committee hopes that he will continue to be closely involved with the Group’s activities.

The year commenced at the RGS/IBG annual conference, hosted by the University of Strathclyde. Dr Steven Cassidy (Nottingham) convened an all-day discussion on Sustainable trans- port horizons, which comprised a variety of papers from TGRG members and outside speakers. The session, which was inaugurated by Professor Bill Black (Indiana). the Group’s guest at the conference, provided a range of views on sustainability across a variety of scales and modes. Papers addressed international issues, regional policies and mode choice, the lack of political and public will to bring about change being a recurring theme. The session emphasized the complexity of sustain- ability, a process involving many partici-

pants, each with their own agenda and inputs of power.

Following the success of the Group’s first Postgraduate Seminar in 1995, Dr Brian Turton (Keele) organized a further similar meeting, held at the RGS during September. Again, this provided a welcome and stimulating forum for postgraduate students in transport geography. The papers addressed a range of contemporary issues including: waterfront develop- ment, travel-to-work patterns, airline liberalization in the European Union, freight transport networks and issues of sustainability. Following a process .Z adjudication, the TGRG is to award a prize for the best paper. The Seminar, which benefited greatly from a grant by the RGS, was combined with a further all-day session, jointly organized by the TGRG and the Universities’ Transport Study Group. Convened by Professor Michael Browne (Westminster), this addressed the theme of The impact of new urban transport systems from the perspective of both demand and success in meeting those requirements. The session also considered forecasting techniques and the differences between the impact of new urban rail and bus systems in cities such as Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh and Ottawa.

Titles in the TGRG’s long-estab- lished monograph series continued to sell steadily through the year, particu- larly the most recent - Transport and Welfare (Smith, ed, 1994). It is unlikely that the Group will publish any further books under its own imprint, instead

seeking to place material with commer- cial publishers. Future plans include a book based on the Sustainable transport conference session and a second edition of the highly successful Modem Trans- port Geography (Hoyle and Knowles, eds, 1992). Meanwhile, Group members are encouraged to continue using the Journal of Transport Geography as a primary outlet for their researches. Dr Brian Turton (Keele) arranged for the printing of the papers delivered at the 1995 Postgraduate Conference and some remaining copies are available from him.

The next major TGRG meeting is an all-day session on transport deregula- tion and privatization at the RGS/IBG Annual Conference at Exeter in January 1997. This will be jointly convened by Dr Richard Gibb and Dr Clive Charlton (Plymouth) and has attracted a wide range of papers. The primary aim of the session will be to provide a critical analysis of the impli- cations of privatization and deregula- tion for various forms of transport systems. Again, it is intended that a selection of the papers will be incor- porated into a book addressing the key issues in this field.

References

Hoyle. BS and Knowles, RD (eds) (1992) Modem Transport Geography Belhaven, London

Smith, JA (ed) (1994) Transpoti and Welfare TGSG, University of Salford

Dr Brian Graham TGRG Secreta

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310 TGRG

TGRG Calendar of Meetings, 1997

Month Venue

January Exeter

September RGS, London

Meeting

Transport deregulation and privatization TGRG Committee/AGM

Postgraduate Seminar TGRG Committee

Contact

R Gibb/C Charlton (Plymouth) B Graham (Ulster)

B Turton (Keele) B Graham (Ulster)