Local Transport Today is the authoritative, independent journal for transport decision makers. Analysis, Comment & News on Transport Policy, Planning, Finance and Delivery since 1989.

DfT Housing-related transport advice further delayed as Gilmour switches to airport work
Peter Stonham

Revised DfT guidance on transport planning for new housing developments linked to the revised National Planning Policy Framework is now not expected till the autumn. It had been promised to quickly follow the revised NPPF issued at the end of last year as the... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

TPS seeks evidence toolkit to steer vision-led transport provision for development
Peter Stonham

The Transport Planning Society is seeking to initiate research into how determining appropriate transport provision for new developments can meet the Government’s new objectives for vision-led planning alongside more homebuilding. It believes codifying a practitioner perspective is crucial to... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

DfT report sets out three ‘priority outcomes’ and unveils new national connectivity metric
Peter Stonham

The Department for Transport has published its Annual Report & Accounts for 2024–2025 amongst a burst of similar reports across its agencies and other public bodies needing to be presented to the House of Commons ahead of it rising for its summer recess. These include Network Rail,... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

DfT rail staff to move to public operations company ahead of GBR delayed arrival
Peter Stonham

The Government’s overview of major infrastructure projects and programmes pipeline across the UK has been published by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) as promised in the recent 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy. It outlines £530 billion of... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Action plan to cut delays a priority – says Government
Peter Stonham

Average journey delay increased towards the end of RIS2 to 11.8 vehicle per mile meaning NH missed its KPI ambition for this measure to be no worse than the end of RIS1 when it was 9.5 seconds linked to a rise in roadworks. The year had seen NH complete its National Emergency Areas Retrofit (NEAR)... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Journey Delay amongst 4 missed KPIs in National Highways performance report
Peter Stonham

The Transport Secretary has submitted the annual report to Parliament on National Highways’ performance for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 the final year of the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2, 2020-2025). Of the 12 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set under RIS2, National... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

LCRIG presents highways innovation report to DfT
Peter Stonham

The Local Council Roads Innovation Group has this week presented its comprehensive analysis of innovation in the highways sector to the Department for Transport (DfT). Titled Innovation in Focus, Inspiring Change Across the Highways Sector, the report represents what LCRIG says is one of its most... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

ORR happy with NH performance, but reviews approach on holding it to account
Peter Stonham

National Highways has delivered significant improvements for road users in the RIS2 reporting period from 2020 to 2025 says John Larkinson, Chief Executive of the Office of Road and Rail in ORR’s annual report on the company. It had opened 30 major enhancements schemes,, achieved better... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Senedd Committee concern at Welsh franchising plans and school transport
Peter Stonham

The Welsh Senedd Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee has expressed concerns that the Bus Services (Wales) Bill , designed to introduce franchising from 2027, lacks detail in key areas and that “significant aspects” of its proposals will only become apparent after... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Post-pandemic peak passenger pattern changes confirmed in latest DfT rail data
Peter Stonham

Though on a typical day in autumn 2024, the number of rail passenger arrivals into major cities in England and Wales was back to slightly above the pre-pandemic 2019 figures,the proportion of journeys during peak hours was 13% lower, say new figures. In contrast the 1.21 million arrivals during... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

West Yorkshire to buy depots for bus franchising
Peter Stonham

Commercial negotiations are said to be going ‘positively’ for West Yorkshire Combined Authority to buy out local bus depots to underpin its franchising plans , but a Compulsory Purchase Order is being raised as a contingency to run in parallel with existing negotiations. WYCA thus looks... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Plans to drop school buses and promote existing services and active travel
Deniz Huseyin

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has begun a process of dropping school bus services where it believes there are suitable alternatives available. Six secondary school bus routes in West Yorkshire are set to be withdrawn next year, with the region’s combined authority saying there are either... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Local transport funding close to foreign levels but outputs poorer, MPs hear
Rhodri Clark

DfT’s new Permanent Secretary has told the Public Accounts Committee that bus funding in England was getting close to that in international peer economies, but the committee’s chair suggested this was a complacent view of the outcomes from English bus funding. In her first appearance... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News
KCC Leader wants slice of increased Dartford crossing tolls for county’s roads

KCC Leader wants slice of increased Dartford crossing tolls for county’s roads
Peter Stonham

The newly elected Reform UK Leader of Kent County Council has asked the... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Metroline to test driverless bus movements in depots
Peter Stonham

Trials of autonomous driving technology are to take place involving buses at two Metroline London depots. Led by Fusion Processing, the 10-month project will assess the feasibility of fully autonomous bus movements using Fusion’s CAVstar Automated Drive System on demonstration buses. Goal is... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Autonomous bus service passenger shortcomings identified in TRL study for DfT
Peter Stonham

Customer service concerns from the introduction of fully autonomous bus services with no staff have bee raised in a report by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) for DfT It raises questions about the prospects for the planned projects to test such service delivery using autonomous vehicles with... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

Self-driving bus trial in Cambridge gets £1m boost
Peter Stonham

Further funding for autonomous buses in Cambridgeshire has been confirmed. The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has secured an additional £1 million from the government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) to expand its Connector project, now on test. The new phase... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

ORR approves limited new services on East Coast Main Line, but First expansion stifled again
Peter Stonham

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has approved some limited additional open access services on the East Coast Main Line from this December for three operators, extending or adding to their existing services. But the hoped for growth of First’s open access portfolio has again been knocked back... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

VLR rail research firm bought by Dudley council after going into administration

The organisation behind the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre in Dudley that went into administration has been bought by the local council Administrators RSM UK said Dudley Council had bought the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation (BCIMO), a not-for-profit research... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

GB Railfreight (GBRf), to haul new luxury touring sleeper trains
Peter Stonham

GBRf has also announced that it will haul the Britannic Explorer, a new luxury sleeper tourism service from operator Belmond to run through England and Wales. Under a new long-term partnership, GBRf will haul the three-day itineraries from London to Wales, Cornwall, and the Lake District, with... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News

New bimode locomotives for GB Railfreight
Peter Stonham

GB Railfreight (GBRf), has unveiled its first two new Class 99 bi-mode locomotives at its Peterborough headquarters. The new hybrid locomotives, which were manufactured by Stadler in Valencia, can run on both electricity and renewable fuels, halving carbon emissions GBRf says, the result of a... continue

1 Aug 2025Local Transport Today News
Developing best practice and skills at heart of BCoE’s mission to deliver better bus services

Developing best practice and skills at heart of BCoE’s mission to deliver better bus services

When was the Bus Centre of Excellence set up and why? The Bus Centre of Excellence was set up in 2023; its creation was recommended in the National Bus Strategy (2021) to enable the delivery of a long-term programme of activities and support to the bus sector.  Funded by the DfT and delivered by the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), BCoE... continue

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30 Jul 2025Local Transport Today News

Quality Bus Event programme unveiled

Quality Bus, a major event produced by the Bus Centre of Excellence and Landor LINKS, will bring together local authorities, operators, service providers and consultants to share best practice across the bus sector.. The conference, which will be held in Portsmouth on 23 and 24 September, will look... continue

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30 Jul 2025Local Transport Today News
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30 Jul 2025Local Transport Today News

Time to ‘seize the opportunities rural transport has to offer’, says Lightwood

Quality Rural Bus, held in Hatfield in July, showcased the efforts being made to revive and re-invent bus services for the future, especially in less densely populated areas. Minister Simon Lightwood, giving a video address at the event, said: “Government is determined to kick-start economic... continue

30 Jul 2025Local Transport Today News

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