The Transport Technology Forum is committing to continue its weekly monitoring of local authority traffic and transport data in 2021, and is calling for more transport departments to share their information.

The award-winning Covid-19 reports have been used since last spring to show the changes in traffic and cycling patters across more than a hundred English local authority areas in cities, towns and rural locations.

In an email sent to the TTF mailing list and seen by Highways News, the TTF writes, “It is clear this year that this insight will be just as important as ever. If you have been sharing data from your authority, please continue to do so – we are most grateful for it.

“If you are not currently involved, you may find that you have data that you can easily share with us to help us get an even greater understanding of travel and traffic. Please contact us if you think you can help and we will talk it through with you.

“This year we are also planning to add analysis of parking data to our reports, giving an even richer picture of transport. The reports produced help Central Government fully understand the impact and implications of Coronavirus-related restrictions, and give Local Authorities national figures for comparison with their own data. These reports are generally published on our website every Wednesday.”

The Transport Technology Forum, working with Arup and White Willow Consulting, supported the Department for Transport in understanding how lockdowns and other restrictions have impacted traffic, supplying vital information as stay-at-home restrictions change.

Although the DfT is well informed about traffic on the Strategic Road Network through Highways England, it had had limited visibility on other roads with much of the data being held locally. ITS (UK) assisted the TTF with its recruitment of data sources.

(Picture – TTF logo)