Birmingham was the first city I lived in as a proper ‘grown-up’ and it was metamorphosing before my eyes.

Today, the city centre is unrecognisable: spacious, walkable and with a brand new tram route snaking past brand new buildings.

Anne Shaw is 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀, and she tells me just how this extraordinary change has been achieved.

Politics tends to focus on what is to be done, but none of it matters if it doesn't actually happen.

Is this as good as it gets? The 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺 was set up to make sure it isn't.

Grace Wyld is Head of Policy and Programmes and she joins me to talk about Missions, Devolution and how good Government needs to mean a transformation in how Government works.

Karen Vancluysen has an infectious passion for sustainable transport and urban mobility. As 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗦, she runs a network of over 100 European cities and regions, all innovating to accelerate the transition to more sustainable mobility.

In today’s episode, we chat about the places that are leading the charge, and the challenges of the growth of populism. She gives advice to political leaders aspiring to make change happen and is inspirational on what has been done - and what more needs to happen.

It’s a great start to Season 3!

Maria Hofberg’s rail company doesn’t just have satisfied customers: it has the most satisfied customers in Sweden. Not just the most satisfied rail customers: the most satisfied customers of any transport firm in the Swedish Quality Index, beating buses, airlines and ferry firms.

The company in question is 𝗩𝗥 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗯𝘁å𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗿.

A few months ago, I did a light-hearted LinkedIn post, giving out “Olympic” medals to my favourite European railways.

Transport Strategy Consultant Laura Wright was immediately on my case, challenging my (somewhat subjective) rankings.

In this episode we discuss our best (and most memorable - not always the same thing!) international train journeys and then have an informal chat on which railways are the best.

Ahu Serter, founder of Fark Labs, talks to me about the future of the transport sector, her inspiration for innovation and her work supporting women in entrepreneurship.

What should the new Government do about transport?

Big question: so the Labour party asked an independent group of experts to come up with the answer.

Allan Cook, former Chair of HS2, joins me to talk about their recommendations and why it’s so crucial for the Government to take them forward

One of the world’s most expensive railways is being built, but will it actually be useful? The new trains won’t fit into the existing station in Manchester and the railway north of Birmingham has insufficient capacity.

Someone who thinks they know how to fix the mess is Chris Gibb who, amongst many other roles, used to run Virgin West Coast, the very railway that HS2 is designed to replicate.

He describes his plan on this week’s episode.

Laura Hadzik is one of the UK’s pre-eminent specialists in Transport Law.

In this week’s edition of The Freewheeling Podcast, she tells me about the dangers of badly-drafted legislation and advises how to maintain compliance while also promoting innovation.

Laura isn’t only a lawyer, however. Despite being a proud Mancunian, she’s a Freeman of the City of London and a member of the Worshipful Company of Carmen. Puzzled? Listen on to find out more…

I got together with Sir Michael Holden (former Chief Executive of Directly Operated Railways, the Government’s own train company) to discuss this landmark first budget by a Labour chancellor for 14 years.

Shin-pei Tsay has had what you would call a varied career in transport. She's worked in advocacy organisations, as an exec in Uber and now leads innovation in the City of Boston.

She joins me on the podcast to talk about how to make change happen.

Pete Dyson is the author of Transport for Humans. In this episode, he explains why our focus on rigid metrics risks distracting us from the things that users most care about, and how groupthink threatens the quality of our decision-making

What is the future of public transport?

Bernt Reitan Jenssen should know: he's busy creating it.

As Chief Executive of Ruter, the transport authority for Norwegian capital Oslo, he's leading an agency with a powerful future vision and a remarkable track record - including complete decarbonisation of the transport network.

Leila Zegna is co-founder and Partner of Kindred Capital, one of the top venture capital firms in the UK. In her day job, she backs entrepreneurs with small startups but huge ambitions. She is also a Trustee of Boston Children’s Hospital and spent most of her career in Silicon Valley. So she has a great perspective on what corporates can learn from startups and the differences between British and American business culture.

In this episode of The Freewheeling Podcast she tells me about the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, what an established safety-critical business can learn from the tech sector and why British business culture needs more self-belief in the potential for change.

She also has a warning: the world is faster and more unpredictable than ever and businesses of all sizes need to be ready to respond.

This week I’m joined by a council officer. But no ordinary council officer. Colin Knight is doing something extraordinary: working with scientists and automotive engineers to develop an entirely new form of transport.

When challenged by his political masters to reduce the costs of a new tram network for Coventry, Colin realised that the only way to achieve a step-change was to reinvent trams from the ground up. Literally. He has formed a team that has reinvented the both tracks and vehicles.

He joins me on The Freewheeling Podcast to tell me what they’ve done, why they’ve done it and what will happen next with the monumentally ambitious project known as Very Light Rail.

Vernon Everitt is Commissioner for Greater Manchester at a time of transformational change.

On this week’s Freewheeling Podcast, we talk about how much has been done, what’s left to do, why Manchester has been able to move at such pace and whether there are obstacles holding them back.

How does the Treasury work?

How does the Treasury think?

it's time to find out!

Katie-Lee English knows all about the Treasury and reveals all

Daniel Knowles is Midwest Editor of the Economist and author of Carmaggedon: Why Cars Make Life Worse And What To Do About It. He tells me the story of why cars are bad not just for pedestrians but for the owners of them as well.

Almost three years to the day since the previous episode of The Freewheeling Podcast, I'm thrilled to tell you that I'll be back later this week to start Season Two.

We've got a great series coming up, starting on Thursday with Daniel Knowles, author of Carmaggedon. It's a fascinating conversation - please do join me!

The Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee (the body responsible for setting Britain’s national carbon budgets and reporting on progress to Parliament) talks transport