No more tinkering – we need ambition
Bus funding helps to achieve a multitude of policy objectives for government – but real reform is required, not more of the same, writes Jonathan Bray. Putting public money into the bus is one of the biggest bargains in transport policy – but despite this the bus has been one of the biggest losers from […]
Five things I learned for urban transport at Conservative party conference
Grayling’s plan for rail Chris Grayling was expansive in setting out his thoughts on the future for rail at a rail industry fringe… – He previously thought evolution not revolution was right approach for rail but recent events have shown that this isn’t the case. The system is broken and needs fixing. – However the rail review […]
Five things I learned at Labour Party Conference for urban transport
1.About towns For many years the dominant argument has been that all policy focus should be on cities, as they are where the economic action is. Now that hegemony is breaking down. Think tanks like Centre for Towns and Wigan MP, Lisa Nandy, have been challenging the implicit assumption (and were doing so across Labour […]
Time for transport policy to get in touch with its inner hipster?
Something is happening to our bland, branded up high streets in the same way that something fundamental is happening to our urban economies. The hipsters have arrived. Sure, Greggs and Virgin Money and all the other high street chains have most of the prime spots locked up but springing up everywhere, and at quite a […]
Does transport policy need a nudge?
In his latest article for Passenger Transport Magazine, Jonathan Bray asks if spending on transport programmes that focus on influencing the brains of travellers, rather than infrastructure can be effective.
Transport's future in tumultuous times
In his latest article for Passenger Transport magazine, Jonathan Bray asks the questions…Can transport bring together a divided kingdom? Will a stimulus now replace austerity? Can devolution maintain its momentum?
What a way to cost a railway
The railway’s cost allocation system is dumping costs on the sector least able to afford them – regional rail. It must be changed. And so it came to pass that the Office of Rail Regulation issued the subsidy figures for the different parts of the railway which were engraved on tablets of stone. And a […]
The Spending Review: Everything to play for
The last spending review gave local transport spending outside London a good hiding. It lacked the political clout and built-in funding commitments that applied to London and national rail – the evidence base for the benefits of local transport spending also had too many gaps. Worse for the big regional conurbations was that by accident […]
The biggest bargain in transport policy?
The urban bus – a highly effective social and transport policy[/caption] Is the urban bus the biggest bargain in transport policy? There’s certainly a strong case to be made – as our new report (‘The Case for the Urban Bus – The Economic and Social Value of Bus Networks in the Metropolitan Areas’) shows. The […]
Building the case for bus – one fact at a time
We need to assemble the case for bus – piece by piece Facts and evidence doesn’t always win the day (otherwise we would be living in a very different world!) but if you want to win a public policy debate having a combat ready armoury of evidence at your disposal is important. And important becomes […]