Integrated Transport

We suggest a fresh approach to integrated transport policy to reduce congestion.

We suggest a fresh approach to integrated transport policy to reduce congestion.

Transport integration is not happening in the UK. Major infrastructure projects are being developed in isolation and UK transport policy remains fixated on the idea that public transport is always better than private transport, focusing on how journeys are made, and not on the ‘why’ or ‘when.’

An integrated approach would better serve passengers, more efficiently use businesses and infrastructure, and better protect the environment.

Modal shift – replacing one means of transport with another to reduce congestion – has been a key part of transport policy to help people to choose less polluting modes of transport for shorter journeys.

In this policy statement, we discuss an intelligent approach to modal shift for both public and freight transport.

We suggest that government departments collaboratively develop a strategy to incentivise and support the private sector, eliminating practices that create congestion on the public transport network, while it remains quiet at other times. For example, government could encourage practices such as car sharing and intermodal journeys with seamless interchange between different modes of transport.

Key recommendations

1. Government should immediately reframe its local and national transport policies according to the priorities we set out in our Transport Hierarchy.

2. By 2020 the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, supported by the Department for Transport and Her Majesty’s Treasury, develop a strategy to incentivise and support the private sector to break free from outdated, unnecessary working practices that leave our transport network congested in the weekday morning and evening peak periods.

3. The Department for Transport should encourage the adaptation of local transport policy by 2020, to encourage transport sharing schemes alongside its continued support for technologies that decarbonise and limit pollutant emissions from buses, taxis and other public transport modes.

4. The Department for Transport needs to review of all current and planned infrastructure projects, with the development of a strategy to integrate them to deliver a planned resilient, optimised single transport network by the end of 2020.

5. Freight companies must work with the Department for Transport to integrate road and rail freight networks, to maximise the off peak use of the transport network making use of the lowest impact mode of transport.

Related links

Read the press release related to this policy statement