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House of Lords Covid Committee: inquiry into the long-term impact of the pandemic on the UK’s towns and cities

30 June, 2021

House of Lords Covid Committee: inquiry into the long-term impact of the pandemic on the UK’s towns and cities

Greg Marsden

Jillian Anable

Consultation response   Transport & Mobility

Greg Marsden, Jillian Anable, Llinos Brown and Iain Docherty

This short report, submitted jointly on behalf of CREDS and DecarboN8, draws on findings from the COVID-19 Transport, Travel and Social Adaptation Study (TRANSAS). The evidence shows how travel behaviours have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlights the strong links between use of public transport and the changing nature of employment.

A shift to ‘working from home’ has contributed to falling demand for public transport. Alongside this, most people using bus and rail during the pandemic had no alternative travel option, indicating the strong social value of public transport, particularly for key workers.

This report suggests that the key decisions facing national government on the future of public transport are:

  • what is the envelope of revenue support for public transport?
  • how will it be distributed between rail and bus?
  • how long will ‘additional’ funding be available?
  • what will the new baseline service provision look like?

Details of the Committee Inquiry

Publication details

Marsden, G., Anable, J., Brown, L. and Docherty, I. 2021. House of Lords Covid Committee: inquiry into the long-term impact of the pandemic on the UK’s towns and cities. CREDS consultation response 025 | July 2021.

Banner photo credit: Alireza Attari on Unsplash