What exactly is “transport analysis”? As a non‐specialist, this was my first thought on picking up this dictionary from UK based independent publisher Edward Elgar. I hoped the short Introduction (pp. xiii‐xv) would provide a clear and concise definition, but after stating in the first sentence that “(T)ransport analysis is an area of study rather than an academic discipline” the talk is of understanding “how transports systems work, and how transport institutions develop and function and … the way individuals and companies view transport services” (p. xiii). Having left us a little up in the air, the Introduction goes on to say that transport analysis is “complex and emotional”, characteristics that might not have immediately come to mind, but as this review is being written on a late running train with misallocated seat bookings and quibbling passengers, perhaps not too wide of the mark. After indulging in a little theorising on the purpose of dictionaries, the Introduction then moves on to more helpfully tells us that the Dictionary “sets out to pick out the main concepts and ideas of transport analysis, together with some particular institutions and technologies … it focuses on the social sciences side of the subject: there is little, for example, on civil or mechanical engineering” (p. xiii). Thus while some haze might still cloud the precise nature of “transport analysis”, we can be clear that this is a dictionary concerned with transport systems, services, policies and concepts and that the approach is from a non‐engineering perspective.
To give a further flavour of the Dictionary, here is a selection of entry headings taken at approximately fifty page intervals: Accessibility; Bicycles; Demand for Transport: Geographical Influences; European Conference of Minsters of Transport; Induced Travel; Logistics; Parking; Safety in Transport; Telecommuting; Transport Evaluation; Urban Form and Transport. Many of the entries deal with concepts and modelling techniques, for example Elasticities of Demand for Transport, Gravity Model, Microsimulation Models and Lill's Law of Travel. Others cover issues, problems and impacts, for instance Air Quality, Congestion and Sustainable Transport. There is also consideration of particular transport modes or hubs, for example Airports, High‐Speed Trains/Railways and Metro Systems, but these do not dominate and all are at a general (e.g. non country specific) level. With about 200 topics covered across 515 pages entries are quite lengthy, going well beyond the definitions or short accounts normally expected in a “dictionary”. Indeed, with major entries having a target length of 1,500 words and those for topics considered more minor a target length of 800 words, what we really have is a modest “encyclopedia” composed of a series of mini‐essays. The volume's standing is further enhanced by the breadth and credentials of its contributors. The editors, two American and one Dutch, have assembled a diverse team of 150 academics over half of whom are based at non‐US institutions. Entries are signed and all seem to have a few items of Further Reading appended, but there is no consolidated bibliography. Neither is there an index, an omission largely overcome through selective cross‐referencing by means of emboldened entry headings embedded in the text.
Browsing and reading the entries further, several features are evident. Firstly, and not surprisingly considering the impressive geographical spread of the contributors, the Dictionary has an international outlook with examples drawn from countries across the globe. Secondly, the entries are generally pitched at an academic or specialist level. As befits the “dictionary” billing, there is no illustrative matter beyond a few graphs and charts. Many entries deal with complex subjects and concepts and some, such as Contingent Valuation and Cost Functions, deploy equations. Although jargon is mostly avoided and some of the entries, for instance Buses, Driving Licences and Motorway and Freeway History, give a useful overview, this is not a book for the generalist. Only libraries serving a clientele either studying transport at an advanced level, or managing or planning transport systems, are likely to find value in this Dictionary. Even here the £145 price tag, while not unreasonable for a well‐presented hardbound volume, may prove a deterrent. Having said this, there appears to be no other recently published work offering similar encyclopedic style coverage. The Dictionary of Transport and Logistics (Lowe 2002) is just that, a dictionary offering short definitions for 3,000 terms and acronyms. A Dictionary of Transport Analysis is a quality book that will have its niche, but this is a specialist one.
