The North is a unique and diverse geography, as are its people and places. Yet socio-economic challenges exist that both hold back the performance of the North and offer the potential for transformational, inclusive, green growth.
To realise that ambition for the North and the wider UK, it is crucial we understand how the region’s transport system can better deliver for all our 15.5 million residents and over one million businesses to realise the transformational ambition. We need to ensure people can connect, access employment and travel freely for leisure across the region, move our goods and freight, and enable services to be delivered by business.
Our Economics and Research team develop robust evidence to make a compelling case for much needed investment in our transport infrastructure.
We build on the research and experience of partners, and engage with them throughout the development of our Strategic Transport Plan to ensure there is agreement on the way . Together, with one voice, we can help deliver the transport network that the people of the North need and deserve.
"Our Economics and Research team are building a credible and robust evidence base to ensure Transport for the North policy making is evidence led and decisions are evidence based. "
Working with partners and stakeholders across the North and the whole country, we build the evidence base that informs decisions made by our programme teams and our Board.
This includes understanding socioeconomic and demographic trends across our diverse region, to ensure our actions and investments deliver opportunities for all our residents and businesses.
Our research not only highlights the economic strengths of the North today but forecasts the potential for significant future growth across generations to come.
We have developed a major research programme on Transport-Related Social Exclusion (TRSE) in the North – the first of its kind on this issue. Our award winning research supports the evidence base underpinning the Strategic Transport Plan objectives, including measurable targets to improve inclusivity and access to opportunities for all.
The TRSE programme is of such importance that it now stands separately as a research area. Improving our understanding of the challenges people face, and by sharing the evidence with our delivery partners and decision-makers, we can drive positive change for all communities across the North.
Our research
Transport for the North continues to work closely with the NP11 and Northern partners to update the NPIER evidence base.
The evidence base for the NPIER was refreshed in 2023 and the outputs from this have been used to support the updating of TfN’s Strategic Transport Plan. Work is now focused on the development of pan-Northern research with NP11 and its Northern Evidence Network. Alongside this TfN and its partners continue to collaborate on the delivery of a transformed Northern economy.
Read moreOur Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy and Framework has been finalised to accompany the new Strategic Transport Plan.
Through this, TfN will monitor and report on progress towards our pan-Northern strategic ambitions, objectives and targets over time. This will increase transparency and will help TfN and partners to make evidence-based decisions that will support our goal to transform transport in the North of England by 2050.
Our draft Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy
In early 2023 we launched a new citizens’ panel called Northern Transport Voices (NTV). It aims to give voice to a diverse group of Northern residents about their experience of transport in the North, while strengthening our evidence building and policy making with new insights from transport users.
The NTV panel is delivered in the form of a research community, hosted on a dedicated online platform, where members are invited to take part in various research activities including surveys, forum discussions, and focus groups.
There are 600 members in the community from across the North of England. To date, the community has produced new insights and evidence in several areas of our policy work, including freight and logistics, rural mobility, and electric vehicle charging.
Our researchOur team feature on Episode 37 and Episode 64 of the Transport for the North Podcast, discussing the publication of our Visitor Economy research and looking at the ambitions in our revised Strategic Transport Plan.
Listen now
We have launched the Northern Evidence Hub to support the development of a pan-Northern evidence base for a range of policy areas, and to support collaboration and knowledge sharing with Northern partners and stakeholders across local government, academia and think tanks.
Our research libraryUpcoming research
Click below to download some of our reports that underpin our work. For more please check out our reports section
This report summarises the work from the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review (NPIER) update programme, that concluded with the publication of the economic scenario
The economic scenarios for the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review outlines the modelling outcomes of six economic scenarios developed with Northern Partners; busi
The Connecting Communities strategy sets out Transport for the North's response to the urgent social challenge of transport-related social exclusion. This includes defining ho
This study aims to explore the consumer perspective towards the electric vehicle transition, with a particular focus on barriers experienced, the impact of the cost-of-livin
There is currently limited understanding of consumers’ attitudes to alternative green solutions for last mile delivery, particularly when this requires consumers to change t
Atkins supported Transport for the North (TfN) on this commission to better understand the North of England’s visitor economy and its links to transport and travel demand. T
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