Case Studies

The skills shortage means that employers are offering attractive starting salaries of around £20,000 to suitable graduates, with a premium of £3,000 for holders of a Masters degree.

Amy Bristow

Amy's interest in transport issues developed in her final year of a BA (Hons) geography course at Portsmouth University. Wanting to get more involved in the growing debate in transport and travel, she undertook the one year MSc course in Transport Planning and Engineering at Southampton University.

In 1998, Amy joined the Transportation Section of WSP at its Basingstoke office as a graduate transport planner. The Transportation team works for public sector clients and Amy was involved in a wide range of projects for local authorities as well as the Highways Agency.

Two years later, Amy moved to Hampshire County Council as a Senior Transport Planner in the expanding Transport Policy team. Her work at the Council has been broad ranging, from working with individual schools to help deliver safer routes to schools schemes, to developing a transport strategy for the rural parishes of western Hampshire as well as working with the Transport Task team of the Hampshire Economic Partnership.

More recently, Amy has been the County Council's workplace travel plans co-ordinator, a Department for Transport funded bursary position. She is working with businesses and developers across the county to raise awareness of transport and travel issues and assist employers and employees in making positive changes to their travel behaviour.

Phil Stannard

Phil took his Masters degree in Transport Planning at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds following a first degree in Town Planning at the University of Manchester. Phil then joined the Manchester office of Atkins Transport Planning as a Graduate Transport Planner.

While at Leeds, Phil developed an interest in traffic modelling which led to him joining the Forecasting & Appraisal Team. Since joining Atkins he has gained a considerable amount of modelling experience through his work on a wide range of modelling projects including a Major Scheme Bid for the A174 Avon Ring Road in Bristol and the preparation of traffic forecasts for the assessment of a large housing development to the west of Stevenage. He also undertakes economic assessment of proposed highway schemes and has had exposure to the rapidly developing field of micro-simulation.

Without a doubt Phil feels that taking a Masters degree in Transport Planning has been hugely beneficial to his career, not least because it provided him with knowledge and skills that enabled him to literally 'hit the ground running' when it came to the commencement of his career with Atkins.

Tim Steiner

Tim took his Masters degree in Transport Planning & Engineering at Leeds University following a first degree in Mathematics/Physics and two years as a vehicle operations manager for a road haulage company.

Tim then joined consultants Mott MacDonald as a Transport Planning Consultant. This provided him with a practical grounding in many of the essential skills required in the industry, ranging from traffic modelling to dealing with members of the public during consultation and project management. Tim is now working for consultants Steer Davies Gleave where his work is characterised by its diversity. He continues to be involved with freight projects, but is also developing expertise in rural transport and real time passenger information.

You could be involved in developing new policies to deal with congestion, or promoting integrated transport, or developing innovative projects to improve urban transport or providing for the mobility of people with special needs, to list but a few of the exciting opportunities now opening up.