The 2040 Transport Strategy establishes seven mutually reinforcing principles to guide GM’s transport network:

− Integrated: To enable people to move seamlessly between services and modes of transport on a single, high quality, easy-to-use network; maximizing choice and supporting low-car lifestyles, made possible by integrated land use and transport planning.

− Inclusive: To develop a fully inclusive and affordable sustainable transport system for all.

− Healthy: To develop a transport system that supports people in leading active, healthy lives.

− Environmentally Responsible: For Greater Manchester to be known for the quality of its urban areas, natural environments with transport emissions reduced to near zero, and new transport schemes delivering environmental enhancements whenever possible.

− Reliable: To develop a transport network that offers reliable journey times and gives people the confidence to use public transport.

− Safe and Secure: To reduce deaths on our roads as close as possible to zero and ensure that poor perceptions of personal security are no longer a significant barrier to people using public transport or walking and cycling.
− Well Maintained and Resilient: To bring the transport network into a good state of repair, maintain it in that state and ensure that it is able to withstand unexpected events, exceptional demand and severe weather conditions

The 2040 Transport Strategy contains a comprehensive set of policies where shared mobility services are embedded as modes of transport which fill the gaps in, and strengthen the effectiveness of, the core mass transit network.This is supported by several multi-modal integration elements that are critical to an effective shared mobility package as part of Mobility as a Service.

Critical to this is integration is an integrated fares and ticketing structure, supported by a “travel choices” programme, which enables customers to make informed decisions about a genuinely comprehensive travel offer available to them.