It’s a missed alternative. Based on our knowledge, 70% of individuals say they’d be extra prone to take the practice if value and reliability improved. And the environmental and productiveness advantages of practice journey are already extensively acknowledged – 73% see rail because the greener choice; 69% say they get extra finished on the practice than behind the wheel.
Counting on private automobiles excludes individuals who don’t drive, can’t afford the prices, or reside in areas with no public transport to attach them to the remainder of the nation. It creates a system that rewards the well-connected and penalises everybody else.
The accessibility issue
Our transport system can be failing these with accessibility wants.
Based on our analysis, a staggering 87% of respondents who determine as disabled, stated that accessibility impacts their capacity to journey for work. In 2025, navigating structural limitations – from inconsistent step-free entry to an absence of workers help at stations – is just unacceptable.
This isn’t nearly particular person inconvenience, however about dignity and inclusion. Folks must be capable of work and journey with confidence and independence. It’s not a luxurious. It’s a proper.
Higher transport means higher lives
Authorities reform of the railways should embrace the voices and desires of working travellers, not simply leisure passengers or every day commuters. From small companies in rural cities to public sector employees in coastal communities, folks throughout the nation depend on with the ability to transfer.
We have to work collectively to enhance connections inside and between areas, constructing interregional rail and tram hyperlinks and linking these to the nationwide rail community and main transport hubs like regional airports.
On the BTA, we’re calling for higher funding in dependable, inexpensive regional transport and for smarter, built-in programs that deliver collectively rail, bus, and onward journey in a single place. We additionally want tech and coverage options that put accessibility first, so that nobody is excluded due to how they journey, or the place they reside.
A greater-connected Britain advantages all of us
That is about greater than transport. It’s about equity. It’s about financial inclusion. It’s about the fitting to take part absolutely in work and society – whether or not you’re heading to a coaching session in Cardiff, a challenge web site in Sheffield, or a shopper assembly in Exeter.
Travelling for work shouldn’t be a postcode lottery. It’s time to construct a system that recognises that and connects all of us to the alternatives we deserve.
Clive Wratten is CEO of the Business Travel Association (BTA).
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It’s serving to folks with disabilities.
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It’s getting solutions for probably the most weak.
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