Transport for the North Conference 05.02.24

Lizzie and Jude posing together on an East Midlands Railway train to Liverpool Lime Street!

Lizzie & Jude teamed up again to represent A Fleet For Change at the Transport of the North conference in Liverpool - the theme of which was #TransformTheNorth.

We’re not sure everyone gets this excited about transport conferences, but passion is what drives the AFFC team, so setting off to Liverpool on a Monday morning and immediately making a train friend, (Stephen from MEMRAT - check them out) - is our kinda bag.

Starting the day with a speech from Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the City of Liverpool Region, was enough to enthuse a huge hall full of transport experts. Hearing someone speak so passionately about the diverse people they represent, about the possibilities of good transport infrastructure to change lives, cities, the economy, and the positive changes already being made by the devolution of transport services in the North, got us all fired up and ready for a day of hearty discourse.

With an impressive array of speakers and breakout sessions, the major themes of the day for us were accessibility, inclusivity, and of course, buses!

There was some in depth discussion on how we make the transport industry itself more inclusive, and therefore give people from a wide range of backgrounds the opportunity to make significant changes within the industry, followed by the same tired discussions on infrastructure-based deterrents to private vehicle ownership, such as increasing road tax, penalties for higher emission cars,  low emission zones and the often controversial no vehicle neighbourhoods - with the caveat that special dispensations could be made for those with access issues.

During the session titled How do we ensure a decarbonised transport network in the North is inclusive? it would have been pertinent to hear a little more about improving the desirability of public transport - why hasn’t it had the uptake it should? If people know the impact their cars are having - in terms of production impacts, congestion,  emissions, and therefore the local air quality in their areas - why aren’t they switching to public transport, and how do we improve uptake? Lizzie asked, but didn’t really get any answers from the panel. Thankfully, the research we’ve conducted as a part of the A Fleet For Safety project has gained some incredible insight into the wants and needs of our potential users - more to come on how that will be built into our services down the line.

The provision of accessible transport - from stepless entry to buses and trains, accessible stations, and audible and visual communication - was discussed during the lunchtime TFN podcast recording on diversity. It is astonishing how many options are simply not available to users with accessibility requirements - including train stations, of which 47 in the north do not have stepless entry. In a breakout session later on Transforming the North’s bus networks we heard from transport users about the social welfare costs and implications of isolation, with an example provided of a single axed bus route depriving hundreds of people in a small area access to their local hospital.

The future of A Fleet For Change includes an Access stream, in which we’ll collaborate with councils to tackle the issues facing rural transport links, access to healthcare, education and work, with a focus on accessibility solutions. Making these simple but vital changes to our services not only benefits those with accessibility issues, but also those with luggage, children, bikes and so on. If we encourage and enable people from a diverse background to use public transport, it’ll benefit service users as a whole, whilst stimulating local and regional economies  - yet more reasons why companies like AFFC who are fighting the corner of Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity are so very vital in this industry. 

If you’d like to get involved with ongoing research and development, keep an eye out for membership to Fleet coming soon!

We also made contact with some amazing researchers through a global innovative engineering firm, chatted to Andy Burnham about the Bee Network and some exciting night time travel possibilities, and bent the ears of the TFN team about their work on rural transport networks.

Yes, we know that’s not Andy Burnham. That’s Jamie from TFGM - he was really helpful too!