Burnham – make fares a general election issue
Greater Manchester mayor wants more recognition of the huge societal benefits that public transport offers, and the case for providing subsidy Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham at this week’s Transport for the North annual conference in Newcastle Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has urged all political parties to make the cost of using...
Liverpool City Region pushes franchise plans
Combined authority members ratify plans by mayor Steve Rotheram to launch a consultation over the summer into plans to franchise region’s buses It is proposed the first franchised bus services could commence in September 2026 Members of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority last week approved a formal public consultation launch after May’s...
The pros and cons of consultancy
Invaluable professional help or con artists charging extortionate day rates? Our sector needs consultants, but they must play fair When I first started undertaking consultancy 12 years ago, a wise old lag in the same game, told me that the “market for free consultancy is endless” and that, as a consultant, “you’ll get...
A mission to advance women in transport
Since 2005, Women in Transport has grown from a small group to one that now has 1,200 members By Sonya Byers Women in Transport is a non profit with a mission to advance women working in transport – but we’re open to everyone. In 2005, a small group of passionate volunteers created a...
We need to widen our perspectives
Deprioritising the perspectives of minority women to a footnote in the story of female gender empowerment can feel stifling Rezwana Khanom is training to become a driver with Southern By Nafisa Nathani The Interational Women’s Day 2023 campaign theme - #EmbraceEquity – seeks to get the world talking about why “equal opportunities are no longer enough” – and...
Coming together to ‘get things moving’
Women in Transport’s Diversity & Inclusion Bus Group continues to grow – and so does its solid progress in making change happen Go-Ahead London is doing excellent work with its apprenticeships. Pictured: trainee driver Chelsea Dash By Chloe Leach-O’Connell Let’s go back to 2019, to this very publication, Passenger Transport, when I wrote...
Supporting women to achieve their goals
Abellio is making a real difference within the industry by helping women to become leaders at every level of the business Women represent over 30% of Abellio’s operations management teams, and 50% amongst the senior operations managers By Lorna Murphy On International Women’s Day it is incredibly exciting to celebrate the contribution of...
Hunt is urged to show public transport love
Coalition of 15 charities, business and transport group writes to chancellor to make case for bus, rail and active travel ahead of next month’s budget Alice Ridley and Michael Solomon Williams deliver the letter A coalition of 15 charities, business and transport groups has written to chancellor Jeremy Hunt to urge him to...
Waters wanted £1 bus fare to sugar roads pill
Minister wanted to offer a flat fare to counterbalance his radical reshaping of roads policy, but says ‘the Truss budget has blown that out of the water’ Welsh bus passengers are witnessing further service contraction, including the loss of the C8 in Cardiff in April Lee Waters, the Welsh Government’s deputy climate change...
Everything’s going yellow
In our city regions the public sector’s natural inclination to innovate for the public good is finding an outlet in transport again ‘Designed by you, Owned by you’.Merseyrail’s new trains There was something different about this normally routine journey from Liverpool Central to Kirkby. Not just that it was a new train...
Buses are heading in the right direction
It’s easy to grumble and I’m normally worse than most, but I’ve never felt so good about the bus sector in the UK – and here’s why Electric buses in Inverness A couple of weeks ago, I was having a few chinwags with folk from outside of the transport sector, finance bods...
Rail travel – the price is not right