This report highlights how investing in bus services is key to achieving a wide range of policy objectives across Government. 

The report also finds that the way in which bus services are funded is mired in complexity, with no oversight within Whitehall of how the various funding streams from different Government departments impact on bus services overall.

This report explores a range of factors relevant to bus patronage decline, under the themes of social and economic change; alternatives to the bus; and public attitudes to bus travel.

The latest edition of Policy futures for urban transport emphasises how a new deal on funding and powers is essential to keep the UK's cities moving forward.

The report sets out the 10 key policy changes that are needed to make cities healthier, fairer and more prosperous.

Over the last decade promoting active travel has moved from the fringes of urban transport policy to a much more central role in the planning of cities and their transport networks. This is because the promotion of active travel, and the creation of places and streetscapes where people want to walk and cycle, is such a good fit with where cities that are going places want to be.

Significant rail expansion is the 'only viable option' to help UK cities achieve their ambitions on economic growth and meeting housing demand, whilst also creating attractive urban centres with less road traffic and better air quality.

Our report, White van cities: Questions, challenges and options on the growth of urban van traffic, shows how van traffic is the fastest growing sector of road traffic with growth forecast to continue.

However, the evidence on what is driving growth in van traffic is limited and under researched.

Our report, Banks, bytes and bikes: The transport priorities of the new economy, highlights how transport needs in urban areas are changing amid the growth of the so-called “flat white economy”.