Transport in the 21st Century: The application of human factors to future user needs.

These issues reflected leading concerns within the wider transport domain that are going to become increasingly important throughout the 21st Century across traditional domains of land, sea and air. However, there are other factors that need to be considered from social perspectives (e.g. changing demographics of transport users) and new initiatives focused on more responsible transport use. New methods of working and new technologies may be required or could be exploited to maximize the capacity of existing airspace and shipping lanes. In an aging society, new demands for accessibility are required across the entire range of transport modes. Green initiatives are refocusing attention on traditional modes of transport such as trams, pedestrian and cycling priorities that must compete with established road-users. Across all modes of transport there are ever increasing demands in terms of capacity, comfort and value. To address these a fine balance needs to be struck between the requirements of operators and their investors and, often, the competing requirements of end users and their travel experience. Many different technologies are being used to deliver value for the operator and to augment the user experience. Coupled with societal changes and environmental issues driving more intelligent energy usage and lower carbon emissions, society is demanding more convenience, comfort and speed across different travel networks. The discipline of Human Factors can provide a unique perspective in this arena. Underpinning all these issues is a fundamental requirement to understand 21st Century transport systems and gain meaningful insights from user-centred perspectives. Human Factors can deliver valuable contributions to the debate surrounding transport in the 21st Century and by shaping successful integrated transport solutions for the 21st Century. With these issues in mind, and the many challenges they present, the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) initiated a Transport Ergonomics Campaign during 2014 to raise the profile of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HF/E) in wider transport debates. This campaign presented a timely opportunity for drawing together the current knowledge in applied research focused on future transport systems into a single special issue of Applied Ergonomics. This special issue presents a collection of papers that explore a range of topics across the spectrum of transport in the 21st Century. The guest editors invited contributions from around the world representing and reviewing research that explores the theory and application of Human Factors knowledge within this domain. The result is a collection of papers from contributors who are each respected as International leaders in their fields of research. Whilst there was a natural temptation to present the papers based on the modes of transport they represent (e.g. road, rail, aviation) the guest editors felt the focus of the special issue should be on the wider reaching factors that transcend traditional transport mode approaches. As a result the special issue draws the papers together across areas of: transport methodologies; design and modelling; logistics; user experience and human performance; and autonomous vehicles. These areas represent key challenges for transport in the 21st Century and provide the reader with an opportunity to learn lessons and integrate knowledge across different modes. The first two papers present new perspectives on transport methodologies. Walker and Strathie consider the development of a new HF/E paradigm for handling big data in the rail domain that has the potential to address important strategic risks faced by operators and authorities around the world. This paper presents a number of proof of concept demonstrations to show that longstanding ergonomics methods can be driven from big data, and succeed in providing insight into human performance in a novel way. Over 300 ergonomics methods were reviewed and nine candidate Human Factors Leading Indicators were identified that map on to all of the psychological precursors of the identified risks. In the following paper Salmon et al., consider the increasing intensity of operational demands on transport systems. With a particular focus on rail incidents, failures to prevent collisions may be, in part, due to a lack of systems thinking during design, crash analysis, and countermeasure development. This paper presents a systems analysis of current active rail level crossing systems in Australia to identify design requirements to improve safety in future rail level crossing