Centre for Cities report says improved transport integration in six English cities can offer easy access to city centres to an additional 1.2 million people

 
Increasing public transport use would boost national economic output by an estimated £17.4bn per year

 
Delivering more integrated transport networks in six of England’s big cities will give
1.2 million more people an easier 30-minute journey to their major city centres. This was the finding of a report published last week by think-tank Centre for Cities.

Full network integration – including integrated ticketing, better aligned timetables, and faster and more frequent buses – would bring European and London-style public transport to England’s next six largest cities, with a combined population of 13.2 million (23% of England’s total population).

For example, integration of existing tram and bus services and reducing congestion on key bus routes in Birmingham means an additional 265,000 people could access the city centre within 30 minutes. Meanwhile, better use of West Yorkshire’s existing public transport networks – including more frequent services on key bus routes – would provide 212,000 more people with an easy connection to Leeds city centre within 30 minutes – a 54% increase.

There are huge economic advantages to be achieved

The impact could be huge if services are integrated in all six cities. Increasing by 40% the number of people who could access these city centres would boost national economic output by an estimated £17.4bn per year.

Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “There are huge economic advantages to be achieved by making better use of big cities’ large existing public transport networks.

He added: “Government should continue to deepen the powers that metro mayors have. Many European metro mayors have power to raise local taxes to support transport services, and the government should explore how this could work in practice in England.”

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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