July Gathering - Foundation for Integrated Transport

On the 1st of July, we were invited to a gathering in London of all projects funded by the Foundation for Integrated Transport, and Emilia went to represent WESTACT for the day.

It was so inspiring to gather in person and hear about all of the amazing projects that they have funded, all around the country. They are one of the very few funders dedicated specifically to transport - which is severely underfunded compared to other environmental issues. Maybe that explains a lot!

They fund so many amazing project, from research fellowships looking at how bus users, pedestrians and cyclists may get a raw deal from the media; national projects such as Good Travel, with eco-attractions working together to incentivise car free days out; to local and regional campaigns including one to protect an important greenspace in north Liverpool from a new road building project. We spent the morning with one minute for each represented group to share about their work - which took a full hour!

I came away with a few ideas and thoughts:

• The UK has an extreme form of privatisation of buses not seen elsewhere.

• We could campaign for a statutory right to good quality mobility - this exists in other countries e.g. Switzerland

• Spend more time talking about what it could be like - rather than being angry about transport.