Politicians come and go! Only a day after Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, had set out her vision in a speech at Leeds Civic Hall for more joined up and locally-led transport across England, she had resigned. Let's hope the strategy remains in place, the aims of which are set out on the DfT website:-

Speaking at Leeds Civic Hall, Louise Haigh MP outlined her vision for a new Integrated National Transport Strategy, "the first in a quarter of a century – which will set out a ‘people first approach’ to getting people around the country".

The Secretary of State "recognised  that different passengers have different needs, and as the quality of transport varies across the country, the strategy [will] set out how government can support local areas to make all forms of transport work together better."

In drawing up a strategy, " the Transport Secretary had looked to Dijon for inspiration, having visited it earlier this year to see how a city roughly the size of York, or Chester, is running buses every five minutes in rush hour, the tram every three and has a dial-a-ride service to the outlying villages. Dijon has also created a single app that brings together every mode of transport – from bus to tram, car hire to bike hire, planning journeys to paying for parking."

You can read more about public transport in Dijon on the city's website (here). The text of the website is available in both French and English. Dijon's 2024 population (approx 165,00) makes it around the same size as Peterborough, Warrington, Slough.

The new Secretary of State for Transport is Heidi Alexander MP (profile here)