Further CIHT analysis of the new integrated national transport strategy for England
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The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) has welcomed the publication of the UK Government’s new national integrated transport strategy, Better Connected: A Strategy for Integrated Transport, which sets out a long‑term framework for delivering a more joined‑up, accessible and user‑focused transport system across England.
CIHT looks forward to continuing to work with the UK Government, Department for Transport, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, HM Treasury and other government departments to realise the potential this landmark strategy presents.
Only through delivery and action will the UK be able to create a transport network fit for all our futures.
Key announcements:
o The strategy argues that this has been partially achieved for bus travel through the National Bus Fare Cap (paying no more than £3 for a single fare).
o The strategy states that the launch of Great British Railways in 2027 will help to simplify rail fares.
o The government will work with local authorities in England to roll out the National Parking Platform, meaning that drivers can use one app to pay for parking in any participating area, rather than needing to download a new payment app in each place.
o The government has co-sponsored a chargepoint accessibility standard with the Motability Foundation and have passed legislation to enable us to mandate accessibility requirements for public chargepoints in future if needed.
o ‘Paying for public transport will be easier with improved integrated ticketing – allowing more passengers to use a single payment method to travel across different operators and modes. For shorter, local journeys, this means more people can travel easily across all local public transport using one form of payment, with fares automatically calculated. For long-distance journeys, this means a single ticket or barcode can be used for every leg of the journey.’ The strategy details different methods for integrated ticketing, stating that contactless is their preferred option for city regions and that ‘by 2030, we will make available the essential tools for major city regions to roll out integrated contactless ticketing locally in a way that suits their needs’. The strategy discusses Project Coral, a shared technology solution for integrated contactless PAYG for bus and tram fares. The government is developing technology to allow Project Coral to expand to rail by 2030.
o ‘We will provide £6m funding to support an integrated transport demonstrator programme in the rural region of the Hope Valley’, inspired by the ‘Mini Switzerland’ concept, will deliver simpler ticketing and clear information, alongside integrating existing hourly rail services with an hourly or better bus service.
o The government will work with Google to integrate the live location and expected arrival times of local bus services into the Google Maps app.
o Wayfinding for disabled people: ‘We are continuing the implementation of the Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations, requiring audible and visible route and location announcements on board local bus services throughout Great Britain; and we will also require local transport authorities in England to pay regard to new statutory guidance on the safety and accessibility of bus stations and stops, including on the information that should be provided to ensure that everyone can travel confidently’.
o Connectivity on trains: ‘By spending £57 million to introduce new satellite connectivity on all mainline trains, we will significantly improve both the availability and internet connection speeds for Wi-Fi connected passengers, in turn enabling a better-integrated transport network’
CIHT welcomes the strategy’s focus on simplified payments and real-time travel information as we believe that experience of paying for public transport or parking should feel easy and straightforward. We are excited about Project Coral, a shared technology solution for integrated contactless PAYG for bus and tram fares and recommend that future developments in this area expand to cover micromobility options, giving people more travel freedom for shorter journeys.
Key announcements:
o ‘We expect strong cross-sector collaboration, including joint exercising of response plans, bold leadership on resilience and climate adaptation and improved resilience of communications between operators’. The strategy mentions the recently published Climate Adaptation Strategy for Transport and that the Department for Transport are working to implement transport activities from the UK Government Resilience Action Plan.
o ‘We are targeting our investment and setting strategies that ensure operators and infrastructure owners prioritise improving reliability and punctuality for drivers and public transport users’
o To reduce the disruption associated with street and road works, the government is updating guidance to improve safety standards and accessibility for both workers and road users, including pedestrians, and have introduced tougher penalties for utility companies for works that overrun and for non-compliance. They are also supporting the roll-out of more lane rental schemes, to incentivise faster completion of roadworks on the busiest roads. For motorways and A-roads, the third Road Investment Strategy sets out how National Highways will better manage roadworks and unexpected delays to keep traffic moving smoothly.
o ‘To improve the reliability of bus services, we have legislated to give local leaders the power to design bus services around community needs, including reducing delays and cancellations’. mayors will be granted a Power of Direction over their Key Route Network, a collection of the most important local roads.
o The strategy argues that the introduction of Great British Railways will help improve the reliability of rail services, with GBRx, the innovation arm of Great British Railways, exploring how AI can be used to improve timetabling and network resilience.
o As detailed in the Infrastructure Strategy, ‘the focus will shift from short-term fixes to long-term, preventative maintenance for our existing road, pavement and rail infrastructure’.
o ‘To deliver safer, smoother and more reliable road journeys, we have committed £24 billion between 2026-2030 to maintain and improve motorways and local roads, marking one of the largest investments in recent years. As part of this, we have also committed £2 billion annually by 2029/30 for local authorities to repair, renew and fix potholes on their roads – doubling funding since coming into office.’
o ‘To support local areas to take a long term preventative approach, we will publish updated guidance which will reflect the challenges that local authorities are currently facing and highlight innovative new technologies’.
o Have published new Road Safety Strategy
o Have invested up to £29.8 million funding in the Bikeability programme for 2025/26
o ‘We will expand the role of the strengthened rail passenger watchdog, which we are creating from Transport Focus in the Railways Bill, so it can monitor passenger experience and advocate for the rights and interests of passengers across all public transport’.
CIHT supports the strategy’s focus on safe and dependable journeys. Resilience does not mean no disruption but managing disruption effectively to minimise impact on people. We are pleased to see that the strategy aligns with many recommendations from our 2025 report, ‘Reducing the impact of highway works on road users’, namely improving safety and accessibility, strengthening enforcement through tougher penalties for overrunning or non-compliant works. The strategy also reflects the report’s general aim of improving traffic flow and minimising delays, particularly on major roads.
We have welcomed the commitment of £24 billion between 2026-2030 to maintain and improve motorways and local roads, though recommend that longer term funding for revenue maintenance is key to unlocking safer and more reliable local road networks.
The new Road Safety Strategy represents a bold and necessary step forward, CIHT looks forward to continuing to work with the Department for Transport and the wider UK Government in improving the safety of England's roads and ensuring that the country's transport network is fit for the future.
Key announcements:
o Government will be launching an Accessible Travel Charter (‘working with disabled people, regulators, enforcement bodies, authorities and transport providers, and using collaborative engagement to develop a shared set of principles that will guide both passengers and transport providers’).
o Government will work with the Law Commission to review the current legal framework for transport accessibility, to create a fair transport system where legal rights, responsibilities and accountabilities are clear, and where these are understood, upheld and enforced.
o Government will publish an improvement plan to increase the data available to help those with accessibility needs plan their journeys.
o Devolution of powers to enable local transport authorities to prohibit pavement parking within their local areas.
o Increasing number of step free rail stations
o Will publish guidance for managing shared cycle and e-scooter parking to support the safe use of streets and pavements.
o Publishing statutory guidance on bus stops through the Bus Services Act 2025 to improve the safety and accessibility of bus stations and stops.
o Have published guidance on the design and provision of floating bus stops
o Scoping the feasibility of a single reporting system for passengers to use across all types of public transport to increase reporting and feelings of safety.
o Making more CCTV images from rail stations remotely accessible for authorities and expanding the use of CCTV on bus services.
o Giving local authorities the power to introduce byelaws to tackle anti-social behaviour on the bus network and improve local journeys across the country
o Safeguarding measures: ‘we are requiring operators to carry out enhanced criminal record checks of their drivers on closed school bus services to ensure children are safe on all services’ and ‘we are introducing national minimum standards in licensing so robust standards on safety and accessibility are applied across England’ for taxis and private hire vehicles.
o Training to keep passengers and staff safe: ‘we are mandating training for staff in the bus industry, including drivers, on how to recognise and respond to incidents of anti-social behaviour and crime, including violence against women and girls. Additionally, bus drivers will need to undertake both disability-assistance and disability-awareness training’.
o Rail fares frozen until 2027
o Expanding eligibility to the Disabled Persons Railcard to include a wider range of physical disabilities and neurodiverse conditions.
o £3 cap for single bus fares until March 2027
o Making it easier for local authorities to introduce bus franchising.
o Fuel duty frozen until August 2026
o ‘We will explore how we can embed a new transport poverty measure into our decision-making' and will publish an opportunity mission toolkit- making it easier for decision makers to evidence the social value of transport.
Making travel accessible and affordable for all is a key priority for CIHT, and as such we are pleased to see that this is prioritised within the government’s strategy. Our 2024 report ‘Creating a Public Realm for All’ provides recommendations for making streets and transport infrastructure inclusive, accessible, and usable by everyone, with a particular focus on people who are often excluded- such as disabled people, older people, and those with temporary impairments. We highlight that a poorly designed public realm can actively restrict participation in society, not just inconvenience people. We recommend that the government adopts a holistic approach to accessibility, expanding their focus to encompass the challenges associated with the aviation industry long detailed by disabled people.
CIHT particularly welcome the strategy’s focus on making it easier for decision makers to evidence the social value of transport and look forward to the publication of the opportunity mission toolkit to make it easier to embed a new transport poverty measure into transport policy.
Key announcements:
o Investing £616 million in dedicated funding for walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure, the details of which will be set out in the upcoming Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy 3.
o Revising the Well-Managed Highways Infrastructure Code of Practice to ensure pavements are inclusive, fit-for-purpose, safe and well-maintained.
o Publishing an updated Manual for Streets.
o ‘We are building on the measures to reduce pavement obstructions, including pavement parking. We have committed to update the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions, the legislation for traffic signs and road markings, which will 42 include changes such as new, simpler zebra crossings that will make walking and wheeling easier, safer and more accessible.
o ‘We will update the Network Management Duty Guidance [HC1] which sets out how local traffic authorities should manage traffic on their network. This means treating all road users fairly by ensuring that footways (including pavements) and cycle paths are treated in the same way as the road infrastructure and recognising that every driver is also a pedestrian at some point’.
o Improve infrastructure, such as cycle parking, so more people can choose using both a cycle and a train for a journey as a convenient and healthy option for getting around.
o ‘Active Travel England will develop a framework for assessing the quality and connectivity of walking, wheeling and cycling routes to rail stations, as well as cycle parking provision, in line with best practice approaches for safety and accessibility [HC2]’.
o Shared mobility= car clubs, cycle and e-bike hire.
o ‘We want local authorities and private operators to work together to sustainably and safely scale-up local shared cycle and car club options and establish more high-quality “mobility hubs” that join-up public transport, shared transport and walking, wheeling and cycling routes to provide more options for onward travel’.
o Extending e-scooter trials until May 2028.
o We will publish guidance for local authorities on car clubs
o Through longer term funding certainty for local authorities, transition to electric vehicles, funding charging network rollout, will consult on regulatory interventions- working with international partners to address brake and tyre wear emissions from road vehicles.
o Through transition to electric vehicles, RIS3, airport noise controls, will publish updated Noise Action Plans for road, rail and urban areas for consultation in 2026.
CIHT have long made the case for harnessing the power of transport to create healthier communities and are pleased to see that several of the strategy’s actions mirror recommendations from our 2025 report, ‘Overcoming the Barriers to Implementing Active Travel Schemes’, including improving walking, wheeling and cycling routes and strengthening cycle and rail integration.
CIHT is pleased to see that the strategy details a commitment to update traffic signs regulations to allow simplified zebra crossings at side roads, giving local authorities the ability to introduce simple, low-cost crossings that reinforce pedestrian priority at junctions. We likewise welcome greater clarity surrounding Network Management Duty, with the strategy clearly outlining that walking, wheeling and cycling are part of this duty and should be treated in the same way as the road network itself. We hope that this translates to greater prioritisation of footways and cycle routes in terms of street design and maintenance, leading to more comfortable and efficient journeys beyond vehicular confines.
Our 2026 exclusive members’ article, ‘Designing Healthier Highways: Mitigating Noise, Light and Air Pollution’ highlights the critical role of the highways and transportation sector in protecting public health and the environment. As such, we are pleased to see recognition that the highways and transportation sector has both a responsibility and an opportunity to deliver healthier environments. By integrating considerations of noise, light and air pollution into policy, planning and engineering from the outset, transport professionals can help create networks that support environmental resilience, public health and wider societal wellbeing.
The strategy aims to develop a more integrated, joined up approach to transport, housing and land use planning.
Key announcements:
o The government will embed the alignment of transport and housing into local and national capital investment programmes, such as the National Housing Delivery Fund, Transport for City Regions funding, and rail and road programmes including the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline and third Road Investment Strategy.
o The government will maximise the opportunities from Platform4, the new publicly-owned property company announced back in November through the release and high-impact regeneration of surplus railway land.
o DfT plans to work with MHCLG to ensure vision-led principles are adopted at every tier of government, to shape our new towns and better align the spatial and transport planning systems.
o DfT also plans to work with MHCLG to consider the role of the Connectivity Tool in national planning policy and guidance, taking account of responses to the National Planning Policy Framework consultation.
o DfT will work with MHCLG, informed by the outcome of the National Planning Policy Framework consultation, to consider how national planning policy and guidance can best support higher densities for development in highly connected locations, including around well-connected rail stations, and other sustainable transport infrastructure.
o The government will put the alignment and integration of transport and complementary interventions at the heart of place-based business cases.
CIHT welcomes this focus on aligning transport and development as a key priority. The planning system has continually failed to provide an effective framework for sustainable land-use developments. Planning shapes transport behaviours, but existing policies have only driven the need for car parking, which in turn means increased car use. The planning system must ensure that sustainable transport is embedded into new developments and better integration of land use and transport planning will help to deliver this more effectively.
CIHT called for the INTS to embrace the vision-led approach and we are pleased to see DfT will be working with MHCLG to ensure that this approach is embedded at a local level. In our response to the recent National Planning Policy Consultation, CIHT called for the Connectivity Tool to be given greater prominence in the NPPF to ensure it is embedded as a key element of site selection. We encourage DfT and MHCLG to continue to engage with the transport sector to ensure the outcome of the consultation takes full advantage of the opportunities created by changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.
The strategy highlights issues around fragmented and siloed data, and the need to ensure data flows easily across different systems and stakeholders so that data can be a key driver of innovation.
Key announcements:
o A transport Innovation Procurement Pathway will be delivered to help strategic authorities and local transport authorities procure innovative solutions and technology.
o The government will explore options to support knowledge exchanges for local authorities and other practitioners.
o The government will set out a plan for improving and investing in digital connectivity on the transport network to ensure we maximise the benefits of this technology.
o A Transport Data Marketplace will be developed to bring together data about different types of transport to make it easier to access for the people who need it, such as local authorities and private sector app developers.
o £10 million will be committed to pilot an Integration Innovation Fund that will allow a number of local authorities to trial digital integration technologies to improve their local transport system.
o £30 million will be invested into Integrated Transport Digital Twins enabling them to model the impact of decisions and coordinate better, more timely responses to disruption.
o Research into the barriers to, and benefits of, Mobility as a Service deployment in England will be commissioned, including coordinating monitoring and evaluation from previously trialled apps to develop an evidence base. This will help us to explore steps towards its future delivery.
CIHT welcomes the commitment to additional funding to support the digital integration in local authorities. Local level resource limitations are a barrier to maximising the potential of data and technology, with additional funding being key to supporting stronger data utilisation. We are pleased to see the government explore options to support knowledge exchanges for local authorities and other practitioners, which can help to improve skills and capability. The strategy promises to champion open data principles, including making data open, interoperable, discoverable and accessible. We emphasise that data must be both inclusive and accessible. There is a need to ensure that people with disabilities have the right data available to journey plan. This means that solutions to journey planning should not only rely on a technology solution - access to journey planning by phone, for example, will be useful for people without internet access or unable to use smartphones.
The strategy highlights the importance of empowering local leaders to deliver better local transport and ensure opportunities are shared evenly.
Key announcements:
o To strike the right balance, we have agreed the key transport outcomes to be delivered with each established mayoral strategic authority via Integrated Settlement outcomes frameworks have been agreed with established mayoral authorities.
o A Transport Evaluation Support for Trials programme will be developed to provide professional evaluation support to local authorities to help them to trial new approaches to transport delivery and learn about their effectiveness.
o Updated Local Transport Plan guidance will be published, aligned with the principles of this strategy.
CIHT asserts that everyone in society should have genuine and attractive choices for how they travel to meet their needs. Supporting local leaders ensures that appropriate place-based solutions can be identified and delivered to local communities.
We welcome plans to provide updated guidance on local transport plans. Strengthening the links between development and transport planning is imperative to the way that sites ultimately operate and function within the context of their surrounding areas and updated guidance can support the delivery of this.
The strategy details how the government intends to make transport investment decisions which prioritise its principles of people and place.
Key announcements:
o The new Project and Programme Initiation Framework will be embedded within DfT, which ensures that the rationale for change, the range of options, and resources required are considered from the outset.
o The existing National Transport Model will be sped up to enhance strategic modelling capability a National Activity-Based Model is being created to allow a wider range of policies to be modelled.
o A Mass Transit Taskforce will be established. The Taskforce will assess the wider economic, spatial and social benefits of integrated mass transit systems, and examine the funding, governance and delivery barriers that can impede their development, in line with the recommendation of the New Towns Taskforce Report on mass transit.
o New Appraisal, Modelling and Evaluation Strategy (AMES) will be published, aligned to the vision in Better Connected.
o The Analytical Library for local transport authorities will be improved, to provide a central repository of guidance, templates, tools and best practice, including those mentioned in this priority.
CIHT welcomes this focus on improving the evidence base for making investment decisions and ensuring that investment supports the principles of the strategy. A safe and reliable transport network requires a reallocation and reprioritisation of funding and investment to support a genuine move to net zero while delivering on economic, social and environmental aims.
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