Zero emission buses need a bigger plan
"It’s been a long time coming but the bus fleet is decarbonising," writes Jonathan Bray. "This transition needs all key parties to think bigger and act faster."
Comment
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.
A fond farewell – reflecting on my time at Urban Transport Group
As October draws to a close, so does my time at Urban Transport Group. So, I’m taking this opportunity to indulge in reflecting on some of my personal highlights of the last six and a half years and to recognise how much the world of transport and urban policy has shifted over that time.
Lessons from the Covid experience
The inquiry into the UK response to Covid is only seeking evidence by invitation. So here’s our Director Jonathan Bray's unsolicited viewpoint...
Lessons we can learn from Scandi cities
Scandinavian cities are the places to go to find out what it takes to be a ‘next level’ city on climate. Here’s what Jonathan Bray learnt in Malmo...
This is the sound of the suburbs
Suburbs. Most of us live in them. Most transport policy isn’t about them. It’s time more of it was. What approaches could we take to achieve this?
Making the case for transport authorities
At a recent UITP meeting of mostly European transport authorities it was revealing how much in common many of those attending had. We were in the 80% club (patronage plateauing somewhere in the 80% range of pre-Covid). Our national politicians simultaneously (for climate and cost of living reasons) want better public transport, but (for Covid deficit reasons) also want to reduce financial support...
Menopause in the workplace – breaking the taboo
For several years, the Urban Transport Group has been promoting initiatives to support our members to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, including in relation to improving gender balance in a sector that has typically been male dominated. Part of this involves looking at how organisations manage people, paying attention to health, wellbeing and inclusion, and creating work environments that engage people and enhance their performance.
Cost of living crisis – what will the impact be?
Is the cost of living the new Covid in terms of the impact it’s going to have on patronage and travel trends? If it’s too early to say yet what the medium and long term implications of Covid will be, then that’s certainly true of rising energy prices and all the other inflationary pressures. But let’s speculate anyway.
Bus safety shouldn’t be an afterthought
The National Bus Strategy for England has an opinion about everything; from bus shelters to bus numbers – it knows best. However, there’s one topic where it is curiously quiet. And that’s bus safety. Or perhaps I should say dangerously quiet, given the yawning gulf that now exists between the approach taken in London and Northern Ireland on bus safety and the approach taken elsewhere in the UK.