Better Connected: tap-and-go travel across trains, trams and buses announced in government’s new transport strategy

Tap-and-go travel across buses, trains, and trams will profit extra cities and cities across England after the federal government announced extra native powers for contactless travel right now (2 April 2026).  

Local leaders are being given the instruments to duplicate joined-up methods already in place in areas like Liverpool, London and Nottingham, the place passengers travel seamlessly across town on completely different transport whereas tapping their financial institution card as cost – with out juggling a number of tickets or apps.  

It is one in every of greater than 40 absolutely funded commitments in the new Better Connected national transport strategy, designed to make on a regular basis journeys less complicated, simpler to pay for and extra dependable from door to door.  

Huge steps have already been taken to make folks’s on a regular basis journeys extra inexpensive, together with the rail fare freeze, the bus fare cap, and freezing fuel duty. 

Giving folks real selection over how they travel and making these choices extra inexpensive is on the core of this strategy. By offering native leaders with extra flexibility, management and long-term funding certainty, they can design extra joined-up networks that ship higher worth for cash, serving to to maintain fares down and help the price of residing. 

The strategy additionally broadcasts a breakthrough new partnership with Google, permitting passengers across England to observe their bus in actual time by way of Google Maps. The service will probably be particularly helpful for passengers in rural areas the place bus providers are much less frequent.  

Drivers will even profit from the enlargement of the National Parking Platform, permitting them to make use of any parking app across taking part automotive parks, ending the irritating expertise of getting to obtain a unique app every time.  

Better Connected additionally broadcasts a ‘Mini Switzerland’ pilot in the Peak District’s Hope Valley, backed by £6 million of authorities funding. Taking its title from greatest follow in European rural areas, the trial will check extra frequent, dependable rural bus providers timed to attach with arriving trains to help native communities and tourism.  

Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, mentioned:  

For too lengthy, getting from A to B has been extra sophisticated than it must be.   

People need journeys to be simple and dependable. They need to have the ability to get off a practice and straight on to a bus with out having to battle by way of a complicated system or purchase separate tickets for every a part of their journey.   

That’s why we’re giving native leaders the powers to construct transport networks which might be less complicated, extra accessible and higher linked, enhancing on a regular basis journeys and supporting development in each nook of the nation.

While native leaders will proceed to resolve whether or not to take a position in contactless, tap-and-go travel, the federal government has made it simpler than ever by offering back-end technical help and long-term funding to deliver it to their cities and cities.  

Gold normal examples like Nottingham and Derby’s Ride app, part-funded by authorities, present what is feasible when native leaders are backed to enhance native transport. The app permits passengers to plan and pay for journeys on buses and trams, in addition to shared transport providers, together with automotive golf equipment, e-scooters and e-bikes – all in one place.  

To assist native areas go additional, the federal government is additionally launching £40 million in new funding for native authorities to trial digital applied sciences to enhance transport, scale back congestion and ease disruption.   

Alongside these new options, the federal government can be publishing new local transport plan guidance, giving native leaders clear blueprints for constructing joined-up transport, making the most of their funding and boosting native development. 

Better Connected comes alongside main motion on transport across the nation, from the creation of Great British Railways, document funding to repair native roads, to sooner rollout of EV chargepoints and help for main infrastructure initiatives that can enhance connections and drive development. 

Together, this units the path for a extra joined-up transport community that works higher for passengers, drivers and communities across England.

Support for Better Connected

Alex Robertson, Chief Executive of the impartial watchdog, Transport Focus, mentioned:

Passengers have instructed us for years that complexity is without doubt one of the greatest boundaries to utilizing public transport. Having to juggle completely different tickets, apps and cost strategies for a single journey is irritating and places folks off leaving the automotive at house. It’s good to see a transport strategy so focussed on folks.

Tap-and-go travel, real-time bus monitoring and better-connected providers will make a real distinction to folks’s every day lives. We look ahead to working with authorities and native leaders to verify passengers see the advantages of those modifications as rapidly as attainable.

Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands mentioned:

This nationwide strategy is a big step in direction of the transport system folks across the East Midlands need: easy, joined-up and simple to make use of. We’re already seeing what’s attainable by way of improvements just like the Ride app in Nottingham and Derby, bringing journey planning and cost in one place.

It reveals how we are able to combine buses, trams and trains so passengers can faucet, travel and get the place they must be with out juggling a number of tickets or apps.

With higher real-time info and stronger rural connections, together with our work in the Peak District, we are able to construct a transport community that works as one system – supporting development, reducing congestion and enhancing entry to jobs, schooling and alternative across the area.

David Shepherd, Chair of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) Transport and Connectivity Board, mentioned:

Local authorities are dedicated to creating linked transport networks and have a shared need to make expertise work for folks, passengers and place. The Better Connected built-in transport strategy units out a nationwide framework for reaching this, offering the suitable powers, funding and technical backing from the federal government to make {that a} actuality.

ADEPT members have helped form this strategy which provides us the instruments we have to be part of up buses, trams and trains in a manner that genuinely works for communities. We welcome its sturdy give attention to folks, passengers and place, and the popularity that digital expertise can remodel on a regular basis journeys.

Great public transport helps us ship nice locations that folks could be happy with: we look ahead to bringing the Better Connected strategy to life by way of native transport plans the size and breadth of the nation.

Graham Vidler, Chief Executive of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, mentioned:

Buses account for two-thirds of public transport journeys and it’s encouraging to see them on the coronary heart of the federal government’s joined up transport strategy. The initiatives outlined right now will assist passengers to see when their bus is coming, to pay for his or her journeys conveniently and to swap seamlessly between completely different modes of transport.

Bus and coach operators are already doing an awesome deal to enhance integration – by providing tickets that can be utilized across completely different networks and by publishing mixed, at-a-glance timetables. Our trade has been on the forefront of labor with the West Midlands Combined Authority, and central authorities, to develop the expertise wanted to make this a actuality nationwide.

Jacqueline Starr, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Rail Delivery Group, mentioned:

This is a significant step ahead for seamless travel and placing the shopper expertise on the coronary heart of transport. Over half (58%) of rail prospects use a mixture of completely different transport choices to begin their journey and we all know they need less complicated, joined up journeys – constructing on the ambitions outlined in this strategy, we’re working with Traveline to make this a actuality.

The rollout of the new digital PlusBus ticket makes it simpler to maneuver between rail and bus with out the necessity for a number of paper tickets.

Jason Prince, Director of the Urban Transport Group, mentioned: 

The new transport strategy, which incorporates an ambition to ship a step change in tap-and-go contactless providers for patrons, is welcome. The strategy, which has been eagerly anticipated by the sector, builds on the modern work already underway in devolved areas of the nation to ship higher, extra joined-up transport networks.

The strategy will complement this ongoing work and assist to make sure all folks across England – from cities to the countryside – are higher linked.

Lydia Horbury, CEO, Bus Users UK, mentioned:

Connectivity is what turns transport right into a community. When buses, trains, trams and energetic travel choices be part of up seamlessly, it transforms confidence, accessibility and on a regular basis journeys. This strategy strikes us nearer to a system that works round passengers, not the opposite manner spherical.

Max Sugarman, Chief Executive, Intelligent Transport Systems UK, mentioned:

Technology has the ability to deliver completely different modes of transport collectively into one seamless community, offering smoother and simpler journeys for the travelling public.

It is improbable to see the commitments in this Better Connected strategy, setting out how good ticketing, journey planning and digital instruments just like the National Parking Platform can combine providers, simplify funds and give passengers real-time info – finally, creating higher journeys for all.

Patrick Mahon, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), mentioned:

The lack of dependable, inexpensive public transport in rural areas is a widespread downside which impacts on these in best want and holds again financial development. We welcome the truth that the new built-in nationwide transport strategy explicitly recognises a number of of the primary challenges that face public transport customers in rural communities.

These embody the delays and additional prices they encounter after they must take a number of buses or trains to get to their vacation spot, and the problem of realizing when the subsequent bus will really flip up. The strategy has the potential to ship a step change for rural transport customers, and ACRE seems ahead to working with central and native authorities to make sure that this potential is delivered in follow.

Rod Dennis, senior coverage officer, RAC mentioned:

Paying to park a automotive ought to be one of many easiest duties any driver does, however with a plethora of various cell parking cost apps now in existence issues have gotten a little bit extra sophisticated.

The roll-out of National Parking Platform has the potential to alter that, giving drivers the possibility to make use of a single app of their selection. We now want as many operators as attainable to affix the scheme to make parking simpler for everybody.

Sarah-Jayne Williams, Director of Geo Partnerships at Google Maps, mentioned:

We are dedicated to utilizing knowledge and expertise to assist folks make extra sustainable and knowledgeable travel decisions every single day. By integrating real-time bus info across England into Google Maps, we’re giving hundreds of thousands of passengers the boldness to plan their journeys precisely.

This partnership with the Department for Transport ensures that whether or not you’re heading to work or visiting buddies, you’ve gotten correct, stay arrival instances proper at your fingertips. Making public transport simpler to navigate is essential to making a extra linked and sustainable future for everybody.

Sarah Randall, CEO, National Parking Platform, mentioned:

This is a massively constructive endorsement of the National Parking Platform and the progress being made across the sector. We’re inspired to see the Department for Transport reaffirm its help, recognising the NPP as key digital infrastructure that simplifies parking and provides drivers actual selection.

By enabling drivers to make use of the app they already belief, whereas supporting innovation and inclusivity across the market, the NPP helps to create a extra linked and user-friendly transport expertise. We’re excited to work with native authorities and companions to construct on this momentum and ship even better advantages in the months forward.

Sue Sharp, Interim Chair, Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee, mentioned:

DPTAC welcomes placing folks on the coronary heart of this strategy. The touring public is various not solely in phrases of their private traits, however in the place they stay, their causes for travel and the alternatives they make for his or her journeys. The strategy recognises that range and we look ahead to seeing it ship an efficient, accessible and inexpensive transport community for everybody who must travel.

We are notably happy that accessibility, alongside affordability, is without doubt one of the guiding ideas. Around 18 million folks in the UK have a incapacity. Embedding accessibility from the outset, taking a co-design strategy to growth and persevering with to have interaction with disabled customers all through, are crucial steps in reaching a transport community that’s really accessible and addresses disabled folks’s rights to travel.

Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair on the Federation of Small Businesses, mentioned:

Small companies want a dependable, common and well-connected transport system to permit employees, suppliers and prospects to achieve them. More joined-up transport networks across England, that permit prospects to make use of completely different modes on a single ticket would make public transport much more enticing – so long as the providers are there.

For these in rural areas, the place public transport is usually unreliable and rare, having the ability to observe your bus may actually enhance accessibility and give folks way more confidence in utilizing them.

Parking stays an enormous problem for native companies, notably on the excessive avenue and in our city centres. Measures that make the method of paying for parking simpler and much less complicated are essential in attracting prospects to our excessive streets.