Here at UTG, we’ve been talking about Total Transport for a long time, with our flagship report on this in 2011. And then, in 2015, DfT announced funding for a series of Total Transport Pilots, eventually funding 37 projects in 36 areas. These two year pilot projects, focused on rural areas, are now coming to an end, but much can be learnt from the successes and failures of these projects.

A recent CIHT event focused on this very area. For me, the highlight of the event was hearing directly from the authorities developing the Total Transport Pilots, both Devon County Council and Northamptonshire presented on the day.

In Northamptonshire they have taken a data driven approach to understanding the current transport needs in the region and identifying how a Total Transport approach might help to make operations more efficient. Uniquely within the pilots, the Network Northamptonshire project has established a Community Interest Company to deliver their project, allowing more room to innovate and try out different things, and also offering the opportunity to generate profits which can be re-invested in transport. They emphasise the need for leadership buy-in for a successful project of this kind.

Within Devon, the focus has been on improving health related transport. This has been undertaken by moving patient transport into the County Council’s Transport Coordination Service and changing the way that patient transport is commissioned. This has resulted in a reduction in complaints about patient transport to PALS, showing positive improvements in service delivery. But working with health has not been easy, and establishing effective working relationships was important in laying the foundations for this coordination.

We’ve recent produced a report with the Community Transport Association, looking at how Total Transport approaches can improve delivery of non-emergency patient transport. This included highlighting good practice examples from the pilot projects, such as Northamptonshire and Devon County Council. There are clearly many barriers to Total Transport approaches, and these pilot projects have demonstrated this. But developing these projects as pilots have allowed partners to be creative and innovative, identifying the barriers and challenges throughout.

One thing that particularly struck me at the CIHT event was the recurrence of the theme of trust. Trust between partners was identified as critical to successful projects, particularly where cross-sectoral working was required. Working across transport and health has repeatedly been shown to be challenging, not just for Total Transport. Fostering effective relationships is at the heart of successful Total Transport approaches, and these pilot projects have shown that without trust, this may not succeed.