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 […]
Into the unknown
As tough as it gets for public transport This is as tough as it gets for public transport. The Government’s decision to trigger a restart last night (Sunday), that begins this morning, has run ahead of the guidance on how public transport should respond. Leaving us with not a chance of being able to prepare […]
Funding, distancing and messaging – the three big recovery challenges
As we enter week seven of the lockdown, the challenges of preparing for a restart remain daunting. It’s hard to plan a public transport restart when at the start of the week we don’t know the phasing or the timing of any lockdown release; what the rules will be on social distancing or PPE; and […]