The data driven transport research train is leaving the station. Consultants all aboard?

This study sets out to assess whether there is a knowledge gap between the research frontier and the consultation business in how transport data are collected, managed and analysed. The consulting business plays an important role in applying data and methods as they typically carry out public tasks in various parts of the transport system, which are becoming more and more specialised. At the same time, big data has emerged with the promise to provide new, more and better information to help understand society and execute policies more efficiently – what we refer to as the data driven transition. We conduct a literature review to identify the state of the art within international research and compare this with results from interviews and with a survey sent to representatives from the Norwegian consultation business. We find that there is a considerable gap between international researchers and the consulting business within the entire process of collection, management and analysis of traffic data, and that this gap is increasing with the emergence of the data driven transition. Finally, we argue that the results are applicable to other countries as well. Action should be taken to keep the consultants up to speed, which will require efforts from several actors, including governmental agencies, the education institutions, the consulting business and researchers.