This week we attended Interchange 2025 in Manchester. With 2000+ delegates and over 62 sessions to choose from across two days, there was no shortage of inspiring conversations.

Great to hear from Andy Burnham about the work which has been done in Greater Manchester to facilitate connected journeys and upcoming changes to ticketing making integration smoother between modes. With Mayors for three regions in the north of England, the difference in investment between areas in the north and south of the country was highlighted. Comparisons were made to work in Germany to ensure that all areas have good public transport and not just key cities.

Tracey Brabin presented current work in West Yorkshire to fill the productivity gap in the region with the introduction of mass transit and public control of the buses. With a large young population, key universities and a key area for sectors such as digital technologies and financial profession services, high quality transport is required to encourage further investment in the region and enable it to reach its potential.

Oliver Coppard expanded on the topics regarding the benefits of bus franchising and improvements to active travel and modes in order to unlock the potential of South Yorkshire. He also shared an example of how small changes, made with local knowledge can have a big impact through the example of the Advanced Manufacturing Research centre. This centre contains many large employers as well as training centres with courses from school leavers to graduates, however only 1% of the population of South Yorkshire were able to access the area by public transport. Through improvements to the bus routes in the area, many employees were now able to get to the centre through sustainable modes.

Guy Dangerfield, Transport Focus brought the focus to the passengers and the barriers which must be overcome to allow for an integrated system making public transport a more viable option. These were split between the practical barriers such as a lack of mobility hubs, unintuitive interchanges and the timings of services to emotional barriers such as an awareness of the options available and removing the fear of a missed connection through ensuring there are alternative options at each step of the journey. With multiple different ticketing options being available in different areas, there can be a level of uncertainty about getting a bus in a new area, with ticketing information commonly unknown until you get onto the bus. It is also important to understand that not all journeys are feasible to be made fully by public transport and that the role of Park & Rides should not be underestimated.

Following this, representatives from Western Gateway, Peninsula Transport and Midlands Connect gave their view on the INTS from the perspective of sub-national transport bodies. For example, the importance of the INTS to not be overly prescriptive, with the understanding that all areas are different, and what might work for an urban area would not work in a rural area. The measures of success were also questioned, along with the concern that certain measures can discourage innovation and people become focused on a particular type of solution in other to meet a set goal. With multiple layers making up the transport industry it is also important to understand who is responsible for what, to avoid blurred responsibilities leading to a lack of accountability and roles not being carried out. It is also important that the powers which teams have reflect these responsibilities to allow them to fulfil these responsibilities to their best.

Whilst larger teams may be able to use economies of scale to acquire data and use it effectively, smaller teams can not make use of these benefits and are more limited on the data they can acquire. Larger bodies such as STBs or national bodies acquiring and sharing this data can help to avoid what was referred to as the “Rutland Problem”. With short term funding and deadlines encouraging short-term thinking, data is typically acquired for just what is needed at the time, instead of getting data to cover a larger range of areas and use cases to cover future use cases as well, again making economies of scale hard to realise. A concern was raised regarding data sharing was the terminology used within the data, which can differ widely between different teams and could lead to confusion over the meaning of the data.

A key issue in the transport industry is not only data sitting on a computer in a single team, but data being held in the head of an experienced team member. This can lead to a loss of information and expertise when that member leaves or retires as this information is not stored anywhere else for the team or others to access.

DataCutter helps you to access multiple different data types such as road and public transport networks, census data and point of interest for an area quickly and easily. This allows you to make use of existing data and have access to all of this in one location. Data can be cut to just the area that you need, preventing you from having to purchase or store surplus data.

The latest update of TRACC has included the introduction of the Connectivity Score, this enables you to take into access to multiple types of destinations with different weightings and maximum travel times. This helps you to obtain a measure for overall accessibility by different modes to identify the best areas for development and where additional provision may be required.

The importance of looking at multiple modes was also highlighted when calculating the benefit cost ratio of a scheme, as improvements to one mode can have significant impacts on others. For example, improvement to rail services may increase bus use and reduce car use and therefore congestion in an area. Another consideration was the importance of long-term funding which is essential for areas to make the long-term investments needed for substantial change.

Followed by Stacey White from West Yorkshire Combined Authority who detailed the plans for mass transit in West Yorkshire and how this would help to connect Leeds and Bradford and reduce the productivity gap in the area. Similarly, Chris Barnes, Transport for Greater Manchester highlighted the importance of transport interchanges to support towns and communities. An example of this was Stockport Interchange which linked the rail and bus stations as well as providing a park, cycle ramp and a residential area. This improvement acting as a catalyst for future regeneration and inspire confidence in potential investors in the area.

TRACC makes it easy to test out different proposals and analyse the impact on these on connectivity. Whether its adding in a new mass transit network, adding a new footbridge to connect a bus and rail station or simply increasing the frequency of a bus route, TRACC allows you to gain the data you need to support your plans and build the necessary business case.

Grace Grant, WSP highlighted the recent funding uncertainty and the hope that this would reduce over the coming months with the completion of the transport infrastructure portfolio review and comprehensive spending review. The change from funding allocations from competitive bids may be of benefit to rural areas who typically have smaller teams and less resources to put towards such bids, as well as areas in the north of England being allocated funding following changes to the scope of HS2.

One of the projects presented was Hereford Station Transport Hub. This project had the goal of converting the station forecourt from largely car parking to a welcoming area for pedestrians, cyclists and bus users. The importance of understanding and celebrating the character of the local area was emphasised to ensuring community support as well as the long-term success of a project. Andrew Atkins shared a similar example of work done at Bishops Stortford to provide a bus interchange, public plaza and new spine road around an existing rail station to enable connections to the local area.

It was clear from the examples and discussions that rural areas tend to require more bespoke solutions, tailored to the specific area and community.

The panel agreed to the need for the industry to get on board with AI though concerns were raised about ensuring that the industry start using AI rather than AI simply happening to the industry without input. Comparisons were also made to ticketing, whereas new methods are added the old remain, leading to multiple options being available and no savings being made as a result and the requirement to ensure that the full benefits of AI are realised.

Mirroring his presentation earlier in the day regarding the need for the industry to take more risks and try new things, Thomas Ableman reiterated the need for the industry to make testing new options and methods easier to allow for innovation.

All in all the Interchange UK 2025 event provided great thoughts and discussions surrounding the coming challenges and can't wait to see how the industry faces them over the coming year!