Jonathan Bray

Jonathan was the Director of the Urban Transport Group (2008-2023) which brings together the transport authorities for the UK’s largest urban areas, including Transport for London, Transport for Greater Manchester, Transport for West Midlands and so on. In that role, he won more of the powers and funding that members needed, co-ordinated their collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic and led their professional network across bus, light rail, rail, finance and governance. He also advised the network of elected city region Mayors, represented the organisation at the highest level with national government and stakeholders, and initiated and oversaw a series of reports on the future of different aspects of urban transport (including on the implications of emerging technologies, the case for greater devolution of transport powers and on which transport measures could most benefits cities, suburbs and towns). As an active participant, Jonathan wrote UITP's main public report on the benefits of, and options for, transport authorities for urban areas (2022). He has continued to work with UITP and has been part of UITP teams providing advice to transport authorities on transport governance in Albania, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

In his current consultancy role, Jonathan has advised Transport for Wales and the Welsh Government on transferring all bus services in Wales to public control. He has a year’s fellowship with the Foundation for Integrated Transport on the decarbonisation of transport in suburbs and is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Transport Studies at Leeds University.