All BLOG posts
My Comprehensive Spending Review… Review
A detailed review of the 2025 Comprehensive Spending Review from a transport perspective.
From long-term city region funding and capital rule reform to the lack of a national strategy and underinvestment in London, this post explores what the Review gets right - and where it falls short
GBR Doesn’t Need to Be One Organisation
We assume Great British Railways must be a single organisation, but must it?
Some of the best railways in the world - like Switzerland’s - aren’t centralised, they are deliberately fragmented.
This post explores how fragmentation can drive pride, quality and resilience.
Sameness is Not the Same as Consistency
Sameness is not the same as Consistency, and neither are the same as Predictability.
As the new GBR brand is launched, this is a post about creating new transport brands - and understanding the difference between these three crucial terms.
If We Want GBR to Work, Let’s Not Start With an Org Chart
Everyone in the rail industry is waiting for a big reveal of the new structure of Great British Railways. But based on my experience (and a few hard-learned lessons), I argue that we’re starting in the wrong place.
Fix the incentives first - the structure can follow.
Better Business Cases Start Here: Let’s Stop Pretending We Know the Future
For thousands of years, humans have tried to predict the future, from cracking turtle shells to financial models. Here’s why we still get it wrong and how we can build better business cases.
We Need to Talk About How We Make Decisions
The biggest barrier to progress in transport isn’t politics, funding, or structures — it’s decision-making. But decision-making processes are human-made, and we can rebuild them. Drawing on lessons from Amazon and others, I share four simple tools that any transport organisation can start using tomorrow to move faster and more effectively. I
GBR: Don’t Fix the Structure. Fix the Focus.
Nationalising the railways won’t fix anything unless we focus on aligning incentives and delivering for customers.
Rural Transport Swiss Style - and an Invitation to Action
What rural transport really needs isn’t innovation - it’s buses: properly integrated and proudly delivered, like in Switzerland.
Here’s my first-hand report from the front line of great rural transport.
Should we need the state in transport at all?
"By paying us your pennies, you go about your business". A hundred-year-old MacDonald Gill poster is inspiration for today
Are your people hiding money from you? If so, Good!
Innovation needs funding, but central controls can make that hard. Finding ways to let people access the money they need to try things is key to the future of your organisation. Here are some tips.
Accountability: Passenger Railway Governance
Inevitably, humans being what they are, a consultation issued by the Government proposes that the accountability mechanism for a business owned by the Government should be the Government, with the assistance of a watchdog appointed by the Government.
Here’s how we can keep all the good stuff in the consultation but tighten up accountability a bit.
Thinking Like a (Decent!) Cyclist: When to Obey the Rules
The situational judgments of a skilled cyclist in deciding whether to jump a red light offer a model for how we should assess when to follow our organisation’s rules.
What Integrated Transport Looks like
I spent half term in Switzerland. Not in a glamorous ski resort, but in ordinary towns and villages. What I found was integrated transport as it could and should be for everyone.
Here’s my report.
What are the French up to? Part 2
The French have a plan to transform regional connectivity in 24 provincial cities. Of course they have…
A Tale of two Commutes
Last week, I commuted into both Manchester and London.
The experiences reveal why most UK cities have low productivity - and what needs to be done to deliver economic growth again
Transport Investment: What Are the French Are up To?
Paris is building 200 km of new Metro. That’s more new line than every addition to the tube map since the second world war - including the Jubilee line, DLR and Elizabeth line. It’s going to make Paris the capital of Europe for the 21st century.
How To Fund Passenger Transport
Transport needs long-term funding through dedicated taxes. With a spending review and the creation of GBR both happening, now’s the time to ask for it.
Labour’s Challenging Start
Labour’s got off to a difficult start. Despite a good DfT ministerial team, transport outcomes are being undermined by policies made elsewhere.
Let’s reduce inefficiency by embracing inefficiency
Company restructures often aim to weed out inefficiency. Too often, they make it worse…