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Transport is in a major transition. New technologies, business models, changing lifestyles and ways of working are all rapidly shifting the needs and expectations of the travelling public. Our transport networks are also key to achieving net zero goals, while enabling cities and towns to develop, improving social and economic participation for all. It’s vital to strengthen transport resilience and future-proof assets, so that services and infrastructure remain operational throughout weather extremes.

Our transport planners and consultants work with transport agencies, operators, national and local governments and the private sector to solve some of their most pressing challenges, such as ageing infrastructure, inefficient operations, poor air quality and congestion, in a way that also unlocks and enables wider city-shaping objectives.

By blending expertise on active travel, policy advice, economics, major infrastructure delivery, public transport, future mobility and freight and logistics, we deliver integrated design outcomes for cities, built on technical rigour, powerful data analytics and strategic assessment.

Funding mechanisms

We help transport operators and developers maximise different revenue streams, taking projects from funded proposals into a clear programme for delivery.

Funding mechanisms

Transport projects will always be a major investment proposition for any town or city.

Identifying the most effective financing model is more critical than ever. We bring a creative approach with experience of equitably capturing land value uplift from associated property development. We help transport operators and developers maximise different revenue streams, taking projects from funded proposals into a clear programme for delivery.

Agent-based modelling

Arup has developed a range of powerful modelling tools to make sense of vast quantities of user and commuter data to better understand how transport systems should function.

Agent-based modelling

In the post-smartphone era, the act of navigating a city generates huge volumes of useful data on how and when people travel.

The multimodal transport network in Birmingham representing both major routes and smaller, urban roads.

The multimodal transport network in Birmingham representing both major routes and smaller, urban roads.

Arup has developed a range of powerful modelling tools to make sense of vast quantities of user and commuter data to better understand how transport systems should function.

These tools enable us to explore and predict how user behaviour may change with different design options. MassMotion is crowd and pedestrian simulation software, but we also analyse behaviour to develop national transport models, to support policy decision making.

Through our City Modelling Lab we’re able to simulate people's daily journeys more accurately and rapidly than previously possible. Our approach is to ensure clients understand how mobility intersects with other urban priorities and infrastructure, such as energy use or community participation, building a stronger public case for schemes.

We worked with Birmingham City Council and Transport for the West Midlands to build an ABM for the Birmingham region which looked at travel behavious post Covid-19. Using a combination of geographical, timetable and census data, we were able to build a baseline model to reflect transport behaviours pre-pandemic. The model was then used to run simulations to represent impacts of the pandemic and provided visualisations of the outputs.

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Shape low-carbon urban regeneration

We work with city leaders and investors to establish a robust economic understanding of the transport, urban regeneration and carbon benefits of a project.

Shape low-carbon urban regeneration

While a solid transport case is fundamental, increasingly all major transport interventions must align with, and support, a city’s future economic model.

Milan's MIND district

MIND Milano Innovation District is a singular urban regeneration project that will transform the city’s former international exhibition site into a mixed-use, net zero urban innovation district.

We work with city leaders and investors to establish a robust economic understanding of the transport, urban regeneration and carbon benefits, and create the legal and institutional frameworks to deliver them. 

We bring together our transport experts with input from economists, carbon analysts, urban designers and masterplanners to enable new, low carbon development opportunities, supporting housing, job creation and sustainable places.

Implement future mobility

Working closely with advanced engineering experts in Arup, we translate the latest transport concepts into reality through deliverable projects.

Implement future mobility

With many new and emerging mobility technologies on offer, from EVs to robo-taxis to micro-scooters, we develop business cases and explore the local feasibility of new transport systems and technologies.

E-scooters on a street

We're supporting the UK government's trials of rented e-scooters across the country.

We help towns and cities to understand how a proposed new system will impact existing transport infrastructure, networks and services and deliver real benefits for the local population. 

Solutions are never one-size fits all. For instance, light rail mass transit solutions connect across smaller or medium sized cities, whereas e-scooters or cargo bikes can work well for ‘last mile’ passenger or goods and logistics travel. Working closely with advanced engineering experts in Arup, we translate the latest concepts into reality through deliverable projects.

In the UK, we’ve supported the UK’s Department of Transport to evaluate over 30 trials of rental e-scooters across over 50 different areas nationwide. We analysed 14.5m trips to understand user characteristics, journey purposes and motivations for using e-scooters, their safety and wider social and environmental impacts. Our analysis helps to understand the impact of e-scooter rentals and informs future policy and legislation, whilst learning lessons about the implementation of e-scooters in urban areas.

Embed diverse user and community needs

We look beyond traditional transport outcomes in the planning and design process, starting with the user experience first and wider community resilience.

Embed diverse user and community needs

Beyond its core mobility purpose, public transport is central to how cities’ many different communities gain a shared stake in the place they call home.

We're working with the Texas Department of Transportation on a 'cap and stitch' programme to help re-unite parts of East and West Austin.

It’s vital that services are seen as ‘for everyone’ and that means considering every element of how the services are used, routed, priced and experienced.

At Arup, we look beyond traditional transport outcomes in the planning and design process, starting with the user experience first and wider community resilience. This means considering diverse needs, from women’s safety, and the experiences of the young, elderly, disabled and neurodiverse people. In some parts of the world this means reconnecting communities segregated by historic planning decisions. And in other places, it means learning from and embedding First Nations’ knowledge and culture wherever possible on major projects.

In the City of Austin, Texas, the proposed widening of segments of I-35, is providing an opportunity reconnect East and West Austin through the construction of new highway decks (caps) and expanded bridges (stitches) that will be built atop the newly recessed freeway. Our transportation planning team, leading a multidisciplinary team of sub-consultants, has supported the City on the creation of the 'cap and stitch' program. Our vision plan helps to set out the locations and programme for interventions. This initiative aims to enhance safety, help mitigate noise and pollution, and foster the reconnection of communities.