The Department for Transport announced its selection of recipients for Access Fund and related grants on 26 January. Congratulations to those who were successful. For those who were unsuccessful this time, Act TravelWise has resources available that may help improve your proposals for the next opportunity. Act TravelWise would also like to play a role in e.g. fostering communication and co-ordination at the regional level among project managers of Access Fund projects, and with training for those new to running this type of project. A special three-year discounted membership arrangement has been set up for Access Fund recipients who are not already Act TravelWise members.

The next Act TravelWise Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday 17 January 2017 at 5:15 pm at Macdonald Burlington Hotel, 126 New St, Birmingham B2 4JQ Birmingham. All current Act TravelWise members are welcome to attend the AGM along with the Annual Conference held throughout the same day.

A big thanks to the 30 respondents to our 2016 member survey, which included lots of useful positive and constructive feedback that will go into improving the membership offer and activities in 2017. The survey responses also helped by providing lots of evidence to underpin plans for 2017.

For example, the lack of activity in some regions is being addressed by re-starting regional groups and regional meetings, which is already well underway. It was also very useful to receive feedback on the types of training that members are looking for. This will feed into the 2017 event programme.

The member survey will also provide an insight on changes in satisfaction levels from year to year, as it will be repeated annually and compared to the results from previous years. Thanks again to those who took part. A summary report will be made available on this page in the new year.

To many of us, big data is a buzz word that has little practical meaning. In this e-update, we will explore what is meant by the term big data and the related concepts of Internet of Things, crowdsourcing and open data. But of course the main question for Mobility Management professionals is how big data can foster a behaviour change and influence transport policies. (Click below to read the e-update.)