Of particular interest to transport professionals are the confirmation both that a great deal of travel behaviour is shaped by social stereotypes (which clearly change over time and are not therefore ingrained) and that much of the ‘innovation’ phase of new transport technologies has in the past been highly wasteful in terms of both money and resources (a luxury that modern metropolitan authorities simply cannot afford). Overall a pleasant compendium and an amusing companion.

Paul Stanton, Freelance

Simon Webb's Commuters traces the history of a very British way of travelling to work each day. Concise and informative, it explains how public transport created new suburbs.

This England, Spring 2017

BOOK OF THE MONTH

This volume makes a well-timed appearance just as the annual news story emerges of the price increases that rail travellers will have to pay from the beginning of 2017. For the commuter this is never good news.

Simon Webb looks into the very origins of the commuter which, he explains, go further back than we might imagine. Methods of transport and entire communities have developed to cater for the commuter.

The commuter that we might recognise now evolved from the Britain forged during the Industrial Revolution travelling to the point where they became a familiar figure parodied in cartoons and comedy sketches.

Webb argues that this stock image of a commuter - the dapper, be-suited, bowler hat and tie-wearing gent carrying a rolled-up umbrella and copy of the evening newspaper - is fast becoming a thing of the past.

Best of British, October 2016