Why rapid transit systems in British cities lag behind Europe

The poor state of the UK's transport network outside of London is testament to the country's vast regional inequalities.

By Sebastian Shehadi

Liverpool and Manchester Metro Mayors, Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham, have made public transport improvements a key part of their election pledges (Photo By Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Great Britain, pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, is the birthplace of the modern metro system: from the London Underground – a “vapour bath of hurried and discontented humanity”, as the artist and writer William Morris once put it, that first carried passengers in 1863 – to the Liverpool Overhead Railway that ran between 1893 to 1956.

This head start has been lost, however. Over the past 50 years, the UK’s investment in mass transit – a fast-paced system of trains or trams – has fallen far behind western Europe.