A warm welcome back to Becky: leading our new Transport sector

We’re delighted to welcome Becky Cartmell back to IFF to lead our new Transport sector. Becky returns to the team having previously worked with us from 2017-2022. Since then, she’s worked for Department for Transport as Principal Social Researcher for Bus, Light Rail, and Taxi Social Research.

Becky has extensive experience spanning public policy, infrastructure and housing, and will be shaping how we grow our work in this space.

Below, she shares what brought her back to IFF, her priorities for our new sector, and her perspective on the changing transport landscape.

First of all, great to see you back Becky! Having spent some time away from IFF, what brought you back, and what have you been up to since then?

I really enjoyed my time at IFF previously and have always felt at home here. I love IFF’s human first approach and the breadth of research subjects and methodologies we work across.

Having learnt my trade, I was keen though to understand more about the client side of public services and how the research we provide is used to shape the design and implementation of policy. Since 2022 I’ve been working as a researcher in the Public and Local Transport directorate at the Department for Transport. I initially worked across inclusive transport and Local Authority major infrastructure evaluations, and I spent the last two years shaping the Department’s research and evaluation programme for bus services.

What excites you most about leading and building our new Transport sector? And what are your key priorities in the first 6 months?

I’m most excited about growing IFF’s offer and the possibility of working with transport bodies across different modes and objectives. I especially enjoy working with local government bodies as they’re so close to communities and are continuously challenged with meeting diverse national and local objectives from economic growth to sustainability and inclusion.

My key priorities for the first 6 months are:

• Raising awareness of the range of sectors IFF work across and how they bring insight and value to our transport work
• Harnessing our extensive transport talent and experience within the organisation
• Building partnerships with specialists so we can offer clients a one-stop shop for all their research and evidence needs

Can you share a memorable project or achievement from your career that you’re particularly proud of?

Shaping the Government’s research and evaluation programme for the Bus Services Act 2025. The Act itself includes 24 measures ranging from bus franchising, expanding data requirements, improving bus stop design and accessibility and making the network safer for women and girls.

We needed to identify research areas to support these policies and how to measure their effectiveness. Liaising with the vast number of policy colleagues, analysts and stakeholders that contributed to the legislation was a tall ask. It was hugely rewarding to develop a research and monitoring programme that could support the transport network on a national scale.

What opportunities do you see for research to shape transport policy and services over the next few years?

The devolution agenda is giving local government greater flexibility over spending while increasing their responsibility to demonstrate outcomes. Local and Combined Authorities will need evidence that goes beyond delivery metrics to understand whether interventions are meeting local and national objectives. This will likely expand demand for place-based research methods and evaluation theory as areas seek to understand how improvements across transport modes are interacting with housing, health and community programmes.

We’re simultaneously seeing the development of more consistent, robust and publicly available national, regional and local evidence on transport outputs and passenger experiences. Think the Rail Customer Experience Survey and the expansion of Your Bus Journey by Transport Focus. Combining passenger insight with more automated performance data and connectivity tools will provide the sector with a fuller picture of how the network is performing. This will enable the research community to better identify opportunities for comparative methods. It will also help transport authorities and operators identify what’s working in what contexts and highlight and share areas of best practice.

And finally, we have to ask, what’s your favourite mode of transport and why?

It has to be buses! Living on the edge of North London I’ve benefitted from TfL’s incredible bus network and am passionate about bringing that ambition to other areas. I sometimes ride the bus with my two- and four-year-old daughters just for the joy of watching the world go by and the excitement of climbing up the stairs before it starts moving. It’s always a great day if we manage to get a seat at the front for teddy.