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5 articles
Procurement is one of the few economic levers a transport organisation holds directly, yet its regional effect is often accidental rather than designed. This analysis looks at how contracts can be structured to keep more spending with capable local suppliers, how social value commitments can be made to stick, and where measurement tends to go wrong.
Passenger schemes get the modelling, the consultation questions and the mode-shift targets; freight too often gets a subsection and a promise. This opinion-led analysis sets out how councils and member organisations can put logistics at the centre of growth planning in 2026, from flow mapping to employment land audits.
Regional growth is more likely to come from making existing bus and rail networks behave as one system than from adding new track. This 2026 analysis sets out why interchange deserves a funded delivery plan of its own, and what authorities and operators should put in it.
Regional transport schemes are still too often judged by the opening ceremony rather than the ordinary journey. This opinion-led framework sets out a reliability-first scorecard covering peak variability, interchange quality, accessibility, carbon and labour-market reach, designed for use before and after delivery.
The 2026 Local Transport Fund gives councils outside London unusual latitude, but the prize is durable economic capacity rather than one-off schemes. This analysis draws transferable lessons from three North West and Midlands programmes and sets out a delivery checklist for authorities preparing their pipelines.