Blog

Our blog offers commentary, analysis and insights on the latest urban transport debates from our team of experts, as well as our Director’s regular column for Passenger Transport magazine.

Comfort or ‘capitalist realism’?

There are a lot of new trains – faster and with more seats. So that’s good. Some of the nose cones are sleek and the exterior styling is impressive. But it doesn’t seem like the same amount of thought has always been put into the design of train interiors and passenger comfort.

Is transport the cure-all that the NHS needs?

Greater Manchester’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner Chris Boardman was recently quoted as saying “Pick a crisis: congestion, obesity, inequality, air pollution, global warming, safety…Investing in cycling and walking is as close to a silver bullet as you’ll get.”

Six tests for PM’s London-style vision

Boris Johnson wants transport in the rest of the UK’s metro areas to be a lot more like London and a lot less so so. So here’s six early indicators to watch out for that show whether we are on course for this… or not.

When it comes to mobility, sharing is caring

Could shared mobility be one of the missing pieces in the puzzle that is the future of transport? That was certainly the impression I got at the recent CoMo Collaborative Mobility conference in Birmingham, which brought together practitioners and policy makers working on shared cars, bikes and rides from the UK and abroad.
Post it notes on a wall

The unexpected joys of an unconference on transport

Earlier this month I attended the second annual Transport Planning Camp, held in Manchester, which focused on addressing the climate emergency. I had never before been to an ‘unconference’ – for those unfamiliar, an unconference is a conference without predefined topics, where instead participants choose and drive the agenda - and I was a little wary of the open nature of the format.

Another green transport world

The weather is losing some of its British reserve. Changing from introversion to extroversion. Records are now there to be broken – and regularly. The hottest, the wettest, the most extreme. As the weather intensifies we need to expand the capabilities of transport infrastructure and its supporting built environment to cope.