Budget 2021: Five key takeaways for urban transport
1. The one year 2020 Spending Review, and the multi-year 2021 Spending Review, are more significant for urban transport than the Budget was likely to be – and indeed, proved to be. Also, between now and the 2021 Spending Review, we will have the bus strategy, and, if the road map to COVID-19 recovery works […]
Why we need a new deal on urban transport – both during the pandemic and beyond
The roadmap of the release from COVID-19 restrictions was as cautious as was predicted for the early stages but perhaps more ambitious than was expected on the end game – with June 21st potentially seeing the end of all restrictions on journey purpose and on social distancing. It’s good to now have the playbook for […]
The world turned upside down?
A progressive way to turn the world upside down would be to do as the Welsh Government has done with the M4 road scheme in South Wales – and look at how the money could be better spent on giving the sub-region a public transport network second to none There’s a risk that the short […]
Spending Review 2020 – the fine print on urban transport
The headlines… The focus remains on capital investment Overall (non-COVID19) spending projections for the next five years are below the Chancellor’s pre-pandemic plans Non-COVID spending is well below pre-austerity levels for not protected Departments including transport and local government Things will probably get worse for non-protected departments (including Transport and MHCLG) Here’s some Resolution Foundation […]
Are we moving to nano management?
In the summer there were high hopes that COVID-19 would be a short war in which the worst would soon be over and victory was in sight. Having won the war, we could then go onto win the peace by making some of the wartime measures (like a big shift to cycling) part of the […]
New normal?
September has brought to an abrupt end the dreams of the summer of a linear recovery from COVID-19, where empty office blocks would spring back into strip lit life and zoned out commuters would again be grazing the shelves of Prets. However, once more the virus has shown that it is not prepared to enter […]
COVID-19 funding gap filled… for now
It would make no sense for Government to cut COVID-19 funding life support for light rail systems whilst it is rightly investing millions every week on expanding and renewing them. This time, Government funding to close the gap caused by coronavirus on bus and tram had run out before a new funding deal was put […]
COVID-19 and urban transport – the message, the money & the future
The message We’ve had the first weekend in England since the latest easing of COVID-19 and now the first working week has begun. Early signs are that public transport patronage is picking up sharply but it’s too early to say at the time of writing to what extent this will stretch the capacity of public […]
A first draft of the future?
Once more unto the breach Not all the details are clear at the time of writing but we do now have a funding support package for light rail and buses to see us through the next three months. Subject to the fine print this is very welcome, and one doesn’t want to seem churlish about […]
Guidance unlocked – but not the funding
In the last week we have been sharing across the UTG network about how best to safely operate public transport networks where demand in some cases is already bumping up against, or exceeding, its socially distanced capacity. If the return to work becomes more pronounced this week then these challenges will become more acute. We […]