Transport Hierarchy briefing event brings together transport providers, policy makers and NGOs

The Transport Hierarchy was published by the Institution in 2013; a launch and briefing event took place on 28 November 2013 at Institution headquarters.

The briefing event was hosted by the IMechE Transport Steering Group, and key stakeholders in UK transport were invited, including transport providers, policy makers, and transport NGOs.

The Transport Hierarchy is a framework of priorities for the design of sustainable transport systems and for the testing of proposed designs of transport systems; it covers all forms of motorised transport (road, rail, air, shipping) and uses of transport (passenger transport and freight), and non-motorised transport (walking, cycling). It builds on the approach of the Waste Hierarchy and the Energy Hierarchy, both of which are widely used tools in the engineering endeavour to move society towards sustainability.

Like waste and energy, transport is, apart from a very few exceptions such as motorsport, a derived demand. Waste arises as a result of producing useful goods, and we use energy to achieve useful outcomes (warmth, motion, light etc). Equally transport is something we do (transporting goods and people) to enable us to access goods and services. Like the waste and energy hierarchies, the top priority of the Transport Hierarchy is to deliver better access to goods services while reducing the need, and thus the demand, for actually moving goods and people.