National evaluation of the Transforming Cities Fund
Project details
Full project title: National evaluation of the Transforming Cities Fund
Sponsor: Department for Transport (DfT)
Principal Investigator: Professor Kiron Chatterjee
CTS researchers:
Start date:23 December 2019
End date: 31 December 2026
Project summary
The Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) is a Department for Transport (DfT) fund investing £2.45 billion into local transport capital projects in 18 cities and city regions across England. It includes investment in public transport projects; cycling and walking infrastructure; traffic management; electric vehicles; and other new technologies. The TCF was originally designed as a five-year fund, to be delivered between 2018/19 and 2022/23, and was subsequently extended to March 2025.
The national evaluation team was appointed by DfT in 2019, to review the success of TCF-funded schemes in supporting sustainable travel, supporting productivity, reducing vehicle emissions, and improving rates of unemployment in deprived localities within the TCF areas.
Following extensive liaison with the many local authorities benefitting from the Transforming Cities Fund, an evaluation framework was agreed based on specific modes and places, and baseline data collected and analysed by the team in 2020–2021 (see Baseline synthesis report below).
Follow-up data is being collected and analysed in 2025, with the final stage of the TCF national evaluation scheduled to report in 2026.