Marsden, G orcid.org/0000-0003-3570-2793 and Docherty, I (2021) Mega-disruptions and policy change: Lessons from the mobility sector in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. Transport Policy, 110. pp. 86-97. ISSN 0967-070X
Abstract
There has been widespread interest in the potential for the significant behavioural and policy adaptations rendered necessary by Coronavirus to act as a catalyst for radical longer term policy change in transport. However, this body of work to date has been limited in its consideration of how such policy change might be brought about. Translating the lessons from the Coronavirus response to other ongoing strategic challenges such as decarbonisation requires analysis of what the pandemic has revealed about processes of policy formulation and how institutions responsible for policy implementation actually work.
This paper explores the extent to which rapid policy change has actually been possible in the transport sector in England and Scotland during the pandemic, and key examples of how such change has been both achieved and blocked. Two rounds of interviews with senior stakeholders from across the transport sector were undertaken in June and November 2020 to inform the analysis.
We find that the pandemic has accelerated some policy commitments that were already planned, but at a time of huge stress on the whole of government and its partner delivery organisations, the potential to deliver radical policy adaptation was limited. However, Coronavirus is recognised as being a potentially path-changing disruption to existing trajectories in terms of the adaptations to business practices, industry structures, ways of working and the public finances. Paradoxically, whilst recognising these uncertainties, decision-makers are yet to deviate from pre-pandemic planning assumptions and policy plans and this risks missing the opportunities to steer how those changes unfold.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Coronavirus; Covid-19; disruption; governance; Pandemic; path dependence; policy windows; transport policy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > Institute for Transport Studies (Leeds) > ITS: Sustainable Transport Policy (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/R035288/1 EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/S032002/1 EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/S032002/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 03 Jun 2021 14:54 |
Last Modified: | 29 Nov 2021 11:09 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.05.015 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:174746 |