Urban Transport Next

In this episode, Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire, was in conversation with Louisa Harrison-Walker, Chief Executive of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce. During the discussion, the Mayor spoke about the potential opportunities that franchised bus services could bring, the challenges of meeting net zero targets and boosting active travel, and the rationale for bringing South Yorkshire’s tram network under public control.

In this episode, Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, was in conversation with Juergen Maier, Vice-Chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. During the discussion, the Mayor spoke about how devolution has given her the powers and funding to make change in the region, plans for mass transit in West Yorkshire, and the social importance of good bus networks.

In this special episode, Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, was in conversation with the journalist Laura Laker. During the discussion, the Mayor spoke about his vision for integrated transport through the Bee Network, Greater Manchester’s trailblazer devolution deal, air quality, and what he hopes to see from a future government. He also revealed his playlist for a long train journey and shared his desire for Liam Gallagher to lend his voice to ‘next stop’ announcements on transport in the city.

In this episode, our panel talked about how to increase diversity and inclusion in active travel and what barriers need to be broken down to do so. The conversation touched upon the inadequacy of data on different journeys made by different people, how the transport sector can do more to capture the diversity of perspectives, and the lack of long-term funding certainty. Our guests were Adam Tranter, West Midlands' Cycling & Walking Commissioner, Aneela McKenna, Founder of the Mòr Diversity EDI Consultancy, and Rachel Aldred, Professor of Transport and Director of Westminster University’s Active Travel Academy.  They were interviewed by Rebecca Fuller, Assistant Director of the Urban Transport Group.

In this episode, our panel talked about how to accelerate progress on decarbonising transport, building on the competitive nature of city regions and their mayors to spur on action. The conversation covered examples where change is happening, from Manchester to Jakarta, the impact of carbon budgeting and the co-benefits of actions to reduce emissions from transport. Our guests were Caroline Watson, Programme Director of Transport at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and Jonathan Bray, Director of the Urban Transport Group. They were interviewed by Glenn Lyons, the Mott MacDonald Professor of Future Mobility at the University of West of England.

In this episode, our panel discussed how to create better streets for the future and how to remove the conflict from the competing demands for street space. The conversation touched upon how practitioners need to better anticipate the ‘messiness’ that comes with designing streets for multiple modes, users and purposes, and how technology and data can improve our understanding of what is going on at street level. Our guests were Peter Jones, Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development at the UCL Centre for Transport Studies and John Dales, Director of Urban Movement. They were interviewed by the event’s Chair, Nicola Kane, Head of Strategic Planning, Insight and Innovation at Transport for Greater Manchester.

In this episode, Dr Nicholas Falk, Executive Director of The URBED Trust, and Rebecca Fuller, Assistant Director at the Urban Transport Group, discussed how transport can shape a new, sustainable era for suburbs. Their conversation focused on the new Urban Transport Group report on this topic (The Good Life), and discussed how best to reduce emissions generating trips and car dependency, and make use of existing community to assets to ensure people can leave a more local life.

In this episode, renowned disability campaigners Alan Benson MBE and Dr Hannah Barham-Brown shared a conversation on how to transform transport accessibility. The pair discussed their own experiences of using transport and how that has shaped their views and their campaigning work. They also spoke of the need to involve disabled people from the earliest design stage of new transport services or infrastructure, and to learn from existing good practice and tools.

In this episode, our panel discussed how new transport modes offer the potential to enhance transport networks and attract the new users necessary to transition to net-zero. Drawing from a new Urban Transport Group and Arup report, they talked about how to make transport available, accessible, affordable and acceptable, and how to move away from the 'reference man' when designing transport systems. Our guests were Karla Jakeman of Innovate UK and Natalie Gravett of Arup. They were interviewed by Rachael Murphy, Scotland Director at CoMoUK.

In this episode, we looked at how innovations in freight can make our city regions greener, fairer, healthier and more prosperous places. Our panel discussed how climate change, the Covid pandemic and the emergence of new technology have changed the freight sector over recent years, and what support is needed so that freight can help city regions and national Government to achieve their decarbonisation targets and wider public policy goals.

Our guests were Maggie Simpson, Director General of the Rail Freight Group and Clare Linton, Policy and Research Advisor at Urban Transport Group. They were interviewed by transport expert Stephen Joseph.