Rankings
Places with the best transport links in the UK
Measured at the point rather than averaged over a council: how many stops are within a walk, and how far the nearest station is.
In short
The UK areas with the best transport links are ranked here on public transport access points from the DfT NaPTAN dataset - stop density within 800 metres and distance to the nearest railway station - measured at each exact location. The current top three are Cardiff (100), Leicester (100) and Newcastle upon Tyne (100).
- Transport category: NaPTAN stop density within 800 metres on a diminishing-returns curve, combined with distance to the nearest railway station.
- Ranked from 539 indexed UK areas, rebuilt daily from the latest published figures.
- Every area links to a full report with the source behind each figure.
| # | Area | Nation | Score | Cost of living | Safety | Weather | Broadband |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Cardiff | Wales | 100 | 61 | 31 | 62 | 95 |
| =1 | Leicester | England | 100 | 69 | 30 | 81 | 98 |
| =1 | Newcastle upon Tyne | England | 100 | 58 | 34 | 78 | 94 |
| =1 | Nottingham | England | 100 | 70 | 31 | 81 | 97 |
| =1 | Sheffield | England | 100 | 75 | 34 | 65 | 93 |
| =1 | London | England | 100 | 0 | 20 | 72 | 87 |
| =1 | Birmingham | England | 100 | 65 | 30 | — | 94 |
| =1 | Edinburgh | Scotland | 100 | 46 | 36 | — | 93 |
| =1 | Wolverhampton | England | 100 | 74 | 40 | — | 98 |
| =1 | Manchester | England | 100 | 50 | — | — | 88 |
Category scores are 0 to 100 and a dash means that dataset has not loaded for the area yet, in which case it is excluded from the overall score rather than guessed at. Open any area for the full report and its sources.
Places with the best transport links in the UK: the full ranking
Areas are ranked on whatever categories they have, with the weights renormalised over them, so an area with a gap is scored on its own remaining evidence. Show only areas measured on all twelve categories to compare like with like.
Best in Scotland
Best in England
Best in Wales
Ranked from 539 indexed areas by TrackPostcode.UK scores. Coverage grows as more areas are indexed.
About this ranking
How is the transport ranking built?
From the DfT NaPTAN dataset, measured at each exact point rather than averaged over a council: the number of bus, tram and metro stops within an 800 metre walk, on a diminishing-returns curve where twelve or more scores full marks, combined with distance to the nearest railway station, which scores full marks within 1 km and fades to zero at 15 km. Northern Ireland is not covered by NaPTAN. Right now the highest are Cardiff (100/100), Leicester (100/100), Newcastle upon Tyne (100/100).
Does this measure how often services actually run?
No. It measures access - how much public transport infrastructure is within reach - not frequency, reliability or where the services go. A rural village with an hourly bus and an urban stop with one every four minutes count the same stop. Check the operator timetable before relying on it.
Why can one part of a city outscore another?
Because the score is point-level. Stop density falls away quickly outside a centre, and station distance changes over a couple of miles, so two addresses in the same council can score very differently. That is the measurement working rather than a fault.
Every ranking
The same index ordered by a different measurement each time, from the same twelve category scores and rebuilt daily. Each one states on its own page what it measures and what it does not.
What this ranking measures: Transport category: NaPTAN stop density within 800 metres on a diminishing-returns curve, combined with distance to the nearest railway station. Read the full methodology before quoting a figure.
Primary source: DfT NaPTAN. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.