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The recent publication of Transport for the North’s (TfN’) final Strategic Transport Plan (STP) to 2050, along with its accompanying investment programme (IP), marked a major step towards greater devolution of transport in England. But it also marked a turning point in strategic transport thinking that could, in the longer term, have important ramifications for transport sector ICT suppliers.
TfN became the UK’s first Statutory Sub-national Transport Body (STB) in April 2018, joining Transport for London (TfL) and the six Passenger Transport Executives (PTEs) and former PTEs (five of which are in the North of England) as a major devolved transport body in England, though the powers of TfN are currently somewhat different to its established peers.
Rather than operating transport services and/or infrastructure as those other bodies do (to a greater or lesser extent), TfN’s primary responsibility is to provide a “single voice” for transport for 20 local authorities in the North of England, helping overcome the current diffused responsibility for transport-related decision making and procurements across the region. This strategic focus is expected not only to help reenergise the economy of the region but also to help rebalance the UK economy as a whole. TfN itself expects its planned transport improvements in the North to generate around £100 billion in economic growth and 850,000 new jobs between now and 2050.
TfN has already begun providing the hoped-for focus for transport developments in the North through the recent publication of its final Strategic Transport Plan (STP) to 2050, along with its accompanying investment programme (IP). However, TfN’s powers remain largely limited to an advisory role at the present time. As such, despite clearly being destined to become a major force in UK transport, it is currently unclear what relevance TfN will have to the many ICT suppliers active in the UK transport sector.
TfN’s present advisory role does not mean that its creation has no relevance to ICT suppliers, however. Most significantly, the organisation’s broad geographical remit has also seen it commit to spending over £100 million developing a pan-Northern smart ticketing, payment and information system, in an effort to make passenger travel more seamless across the North of England. This development, still in its early stages, is expected to be worth up to £200 million in total to suppliers once fully rolled out. In the meantime, considerable work remains to be done in integrating back office processes across TfN’s partner LTAs to better support integrated working and multi-modal transport.
The body’s existing powers have also seen it making considerable investments in technologies designed to improve its transport analysis and modelling capabilities. These investments can be expected to increase as the TfN’s analysis of key strategic development corridors in the region scales up.
Outside of these activities, TfN remains, for the time being a small organisation with an estimated headcount of around 100. As such, its internal ICT requirements are modest. Indeed, its internal ICT budget was set at just £0.27 million in the first six months 2018-19, although the organisation had previously invested over £20 million in computer hardware and professional services in the previous financial year.
While these opportunities are relatively small scale at present there should be increased opportunities for suppliers to work with the organisation as it expands both in size and in the scope of its activities. TfN is itself seeking to expand its role beyond that of simply an advisor to become an autonomous budget holder, able to shape future investment and incentivised to deliver greater reforms. Achieving this ambition would likely result in TfN gaining greater procurement powers relating to transport in the North that can be expected to extend to ICT.
Additional opportunities for ICT suppliers may also arise from TfN’s interests in emerging transport technologies. For example, TfN is actively investigating the potential for next generation transport technologies such as those supporting connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) and tram trains, and seems set to provide a focal point for these activities in the North of England.
In the meantime, it will remain contingent on transport ICT suppliers to continue building appropriate relationships with the local transport authorities that feed into TfN. However, TfN’s role as the voice for transport in the North of England and its key role in enabling cross-regional transport initiatives such as its Integrated and Smart Travel programme should be reason enough for ICT suppliers in the transport sector to have TfN on their radar already.
TfN is the subject of GlobalData Public Sector’s latest Transport sector report. |
