Travel 

Freedom of movement for all – adults and children – is a hallmark of a ConnectedCity. Moving between towns is as easy. There are frequent inter-town services 24/7, and many towns have personal rapid transit.

All new development is close to a station and walkable using protected well-lit routes. Reaching the hub from any station takes no more than 15 minutes, so even the longest journey within the city generally takes less than an hour.

Bikes and small electric vehicles move freely about the city using the cycle network, which is safe and popular.

People still use cars and vans, but mainly to travel to places not on the rail network. Car ownership is low as it’s easier and cheaper to travel by public transport or taxi, and hire a car when needed.

Comfortable walking, cycling and other on-demand means of travel make movement within a Connected Town simple and attractive.

Movement between the Connected Towns of a ConnectedCity is normally by fast and frequent rail services, which are easily accessed via the local transport.

The hub towns are the stopping points of express rail services, although some still run from metropolis to metropolis. Travel by car and coach has increased, but the greatest increase has been in travel by rail, on both the new high-speed lines and the heritage lines. Domestic flights are between mega cities.

New High Speed rail was not a necessary part of ConnectedCities, but helped by:

• freeing extra capacity in the heritage network for local and regional rail services

• allowing ConnectedCities to share in the increased prosperity by bringing them closer to the larger markets of the major metropolises

• greatly improving the national freight network

Improvements in the signalling and control systems, electrification and modest track upgrades such as loops, crossovers and track doubling have greatly increased the efficiency and capacity of the heritage network.