Research

One of our core purposes as an organisation is to publish original and eye-opening research into transport concepts, projects, issues or themes. This may take the form of analysis or a policy vision with specific recommendations. The aim of all of our research should be to add novel and valuable insight, and ultimately to inspire improvement, investment and use of sustainable transport. Our research can be aimed at decision-makers, stakeholders, the general public, or all of these.

The following categorisations are to provide some indication of what forms research may take, but are not strictly defined categories. 

• Concepts
  • Showcasing and critically analysing a novel concept. This may be a physical transport infrastructure project, a new service pattern, or a wider policy concept.
  • For example, development of a potential rail link for Rushden was carried out by Enroute's predecessor, Sustainable Transport Midlands. The concept was turned into a research piece discussing the merits of the scheme, and comparing it to an alternative parkway option.
  • Another example, focusing on 'soft' policy intervention rather than 'hard' infrastructure, is our research piece on intermodal ticketing, which proposes the expansion of the Oyster system across Great Britain and the creation of a new National Fares Regulator.
• Issues
  • Research pieces could focus on analysing a particular area of activity or controversy in the transport sector, or discussion of an ongoing project such as HS2 or East West Rail. Such pieces could take many forms, and may focus on infrastructure projects, governance structures (such as rail franchising, and the ongoing development of Great British Railways), policies and their effects (such as bus privatisation), operational issues (such as performance improvements), interactions between local and national campaign groups, transport operators and governments...
  • For example, our analysis of the Government's Restoring Your Railway scheme compares efforts to restore passenger services to railways in Northumberland (ongoing) and Nottinghamshire (proposed), analysing the gap between rhetoric and delivery of the promise to "reverse the Beeching cuts".
• Themes
  • Research may take a broader form than focusing on a specific hypothetical project or analysing a particular project or issue, looking into a wider theme. Such pieces might draw on specific case study examples but draw out a wider theme with broader implications. Such pieces may draw from academic literature, in fields such as Transport Geography or Mobilities.
  • For example, our research piece comparing transport projects in Daventry and Rushden draws out some wider dilemmas transport planners face: whether to focus on serving individual nodes or focus on the simplicity and performance of the wider network, and whether to focus on bigger and better or smaller and more realistic projects.
  • Another example, weighing up bus operation across Great Britain, uses case studies from across the country to weigh up different bus operation ownership models (private, municipal and franchising).