Degree Courses: Introduction

Transport today gets a bad press but is in fact vital to modern life. As a transport planner, you could be solving some of the most pressing problems facing our society, taking advantage of new technology to find innovative solutions, combining sensitivity to the environment with robust analysis of the effects of alternative actions.

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.

A wide variety of jobs is now open to transport planners, as the case studies show. You could be working for:

• central or local government
• a public transport company
• a specialized consultancy or
• other transport related organisations
  (railway companies, airports, seaports, logistics or freight.)

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.

NEXT: Making a career in Transport Planning