Improving public transport in the Glasgow City Region

This report assesses the current performance of the public transport network in and around Glasgow, what improvements could be made and how many more people these could connect to the transport network. Given the long timescales required to deliver big infrastructure projects like Clyde Metro, it looks at what can be improved more immediately. First, it analyses how well public transport in Glasgow performs in comparison with other large cities in the UK and abroad. Second, it models the potential connectivity gains from greater regulation of the network, by both improving existing routes and setting new ones. Finally, it analyses the necessary steps to improve and integrate public transport and sets out what this means for funding and local governance structures.

Key learnings

• Glasgow is not a particularly dense urban area by both UK and European standards. This poses specific challenges for effective public transport provision whilst public transport mode integration is also lacking.  
• Public transport underperformance contributes to the broader economic underperformance of the city when compared to European counterparts.
• Two main responses are recommended:
  1. Invest in new infrastructure
  2. Better integrate available transport modes. 
• More frequent bus services could increase the number of well-connected residents by 25% whilst full integration between bus, rail and subway/metro would lead to a further 90,000 well-connected residents. 
• A three-phase plan to improve public transport is proposed that includes recommendations for reforming governance, funding and putting forth a long-term plan for integration and investment.