Funding and an integrated travel plan. It’s where metro mayors and the like come in handy.

Also a less London-focused national budget would be a great boost to the regions.

I’m traveling to Manchester this weekend with the family.

I already have a car, so fuel would be about £70 or the train for 4 of us would be £400. With a travel card and it’s silly restrictions meaning we can’t leave early would drop it to £200 (plus the travel card itself because it never works out cheaper for us so I never get one), which is still more than twice as much as it would be to drive. I would prefer to sit around a table with the family for the ride, but not £400 much.

Frequency and density.

The issue is that frequency and density is low so people become drivers and see transport as more expensive because they already pay the expense of car.

After that it would come via cohesion of the network: fares, navigability, timetabling etc. The fact first group has tap and go and then diamond has its own tap and go that doesn’t sync makes using transport a huge pain in the backside, similarly timetables are on different apps and places making it hard to navigate.

After that, it would come to the cost & hopper fares. Hopper fares allow for rationalisation of the network, lower fares could encourage usage. I like Scotland’s idea of giving under 21s a free pass also, market subsidises it similar to the OAP pass but at times younger people are more likely to use.