Urban transport authorities set out way forward

Blueprint for better urban transport shows vision for change on devolution and investment.

The Urban Transport Group, which represents the seven largest urban transport authorities in England, has set out its vision for a partnership between national government and transport authorities to deliver high quality and integrated transport networks which support sustainable and inclusive growth at a time of rapid technological and social change.

The report, Policy futures for urban transport, sets out how the city regions are delivering major investment programmes with more focused governance in place, including on public transport, highways and active travel, and smart ticketing. It says that, with the right national policy framework, further and faster progress can be made, including: ensuring that the benefits of transformative technological change are maximised including new ways of paying for access to transport, connected and autonomous vehicles and data; that barriers between different sectors are broken down so that the benefits that transport can bring to achieving wider policy goals are fully realised.

Among the 16 policy changes the vision advocates are: greater stability and a more long term approach to local transport funding; moving quickly to fully implement the 2017 Bus Services Act; a more ambitious national policy framework on air quality; and a national active travel strategy that accelerates growth in the number of trips made on foot and by bike.

Tobyn Hughes, managing director of Nexus and the chair of Urban Transport Group, said: “From the expansion of tram and light rail networks to the promotion of active travel and the introduction of smart ticketing, transport is changing for the better in our major urban areas. However, we want to go further and faster and this report sets out how. It builds on the expertise of the transport authorities for our largest urban areas and turns that into a route map for what an effective working relationship between government and the city regions should look like on transport.

“A key immediate priority has to be ensuring that the 2017 Buses Act is fully implemented as soon as is practicable to give the city regions a more effective set of powers to transform bus networks – in particular through smart and simple ticketing.”