This leads us to our final point here. We encountered a range of data issues. Most problematically, some boroughs have failed to publish any monitoring and evaluation reports at all, or have produced reports where data is in formats that do not lend themselves to independent re-analysis (e.g. graphs rather than tabular format). In some cases tables were presented, but it was challenging to extract data from these images. This also represents an accessibility barrier for those using screen readers, for instance.
We need improved monitoring and evaluation, including the provision of more accessible, transparent, and standardised data. In the UK this is a potential role for organisations like Transport for London, Combined Authorities, the Department for Transport or Active Travel England, Transport Scotland, the Welsh Government, and the Department for Infrastructure. Nello-Deakin’s (2022) analysis of traffic reduction measures in Barcelona was facilitated by the municipal authority publishing in one place open access monthly average traffic count figures from locations across the city. The provision of this data across London and nationally could permit academics and others to much more easily explore the impacts of a range of interventions, and would allow the use of (for instance) more sophisticated normalisation approaches than we were able to use here.