Answers to common questions

You are likely to be eligible if you are a local, regional, combined authority or other public body with responsibility for transport delivery, and you have an idea you want to test and learn from.

Applying at this stage does not create an obligation to proceed. Any further terms of engagement will be discussed and agreed during proposal development, once the support requirements are clearer.

We encourage any transport trials that can improve the transport system and have not already been robustly tested. While public bodies can put forward emerging technology ideas, ideas do not need to be technology driven. The TEST Programme aims to support ideas that are realistically deliverable, measurable and useful to other public bodies.

The DfT TEST Programme gives you access to high-quality evaluation support to strengthen your transport trials, generating reliable evidence on their effectiveness. This can help you understand what works, make more confident decisions about whether to adapt, scale or stop an intervention, and share learning with other public bodies facing similar challenges. You will also have access to practical resources and a national network of peers undertaking transport trials.

The DfT TEST Programme supports you from initial idea through to hands-on trial evaluation support and communicating the impact. Our TEST Experts can provide:

Support to develop your proposal, including trial design, delivery planning and evaluation approach.

In the region of 10-50 days of tailored evaluation support covering data, monitoring, analysis, reporting and quality assurance.

Support to publish and share findings (evaluation reports, case studies, playbooks) to support others and influence wider policy and best practice.

An intervention is a change being introduced (e.g. a policy, investment or programme) to improve transport outcomes, while a trial is the structured way of testing and evaluating that intervention in real-world conditions before deciding whether to adopt or scale it. 

The DfT TEST Programme supports both trials and interventions, so long as they can deliver robust evidence about their effectiveness.

No, TEST does not provide capital or revenue funding to deliver trials. It provides DfT funded evaluation expertise to strengthen learning from trials.

TEST is designed to provide expert evaluation support where it is not currently funded. However, decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. You can contact us at DfTTESTprogramme@paconsulting.com to discuss your specific circumstances.

Your organisation remains responsible for delivering the trial or intervention. The TEST Programme provides evaluation support and will produce a trial evaluation report at the conclusion of the trial. TEST Experts do not take over project management, scheme delivery, procurement, supplier management or day-to-day operations.

You can still submit an idea, even if it is not fully developed, to express interest in future rounds. We may be able to support you for these rounds. You can do this by registering interest here.

Yes. There is no firm commitment at this stage. However, you should explain the status of your trial, noting what approvals, funding or decisions are still needed. If your application progresses to proposal development, funding and approvals will need to be in place. If you are still unsure, you can submit an expression of interest application or email us to discuss your idea further.

Apply by completing the online proforma here. Applying at this stage does not create an obligation to proceed. Any further terms of engagement will be discussed and agreed during proposal development, once the support requirements are clearer.

You will receive confirmation of your submission via email. The idea will then be assessed against the TEST criteria, which are evaluation feasibility and learning potential. We may contact you during this time, if we have any questions to clarify. You will hear back from us on the outcome in the week commencing 1 September. Regardless of the outcome, all ideas submitted will receive feedback from the TEST Expert Team to inform your next steps.

If your idea is selected, you will be invited to work with the TEST Experts to develop it into a fuller proposal from September 2026.

This stage is collaborative and proportionate to your needs. Depending on what support would be most useful, TEST Experts may help you refine the trial scope, clarify the evaluation approach, identify data needs, consider roles and timescales, and understand key risks and expected outputs.

Selection at this stage does not create an obligation to proceed. Any further terms of engagement will be discussed and agreed during proposal development, once the support requirements are clearer.

Progression to the proposal development stage is not guaranteed. Reasons for not progressing ideas could include: the trial has limited wider learning value, it is not feasible to evaluate it robustly, or it does not fit within the programme timeframe.

If your idea is not selected, we will provide constructive feedback and an expert assessment to help you understand the decision. If your idea is not ready for this round, we may suggest ways to strengthen it for Round 2 or 3.

We encourage questions, especially if you are unsure whether your idea is in scope. Questions about the programme, guidance or submission process should be sent to:

DfTTESTprogramme@paconsulting.com

If your idea is taken forward, you will need to have, or be developing, plans to fund and deliver the trial, including any necessary approvals. You will also need to provide a named contact, share the data needed for proposal development and evaluation, and support publication of the final trial report so others can learn from the findings.

The data required will depend on the intervention. It could include usage data, journey time or reliability data, operational data, user feedback, safety data, cost information or local context. In your idea submission, please explain (where possible) what data may be available and any known issues with access, quality or ownership. At the proposal stage, we will enter into a data sharing agreement with you, so you can have confidence that we will protect your data.

Yes. As a condition of participating in the TEST Programme, applicants must collaborate with the TEST Experts to develop and publish a report setting out what was tested, how it was evaluated, and what the findings showed. These reports will not include any commercially sensitive or personal data.

There is no single required trial length, as long as the trial runs for enough time to generate robust and useful evidence.

The key requirement is that the intervention can be delivered, evaluated and reported within the TEST Programme’s three-year timeframe. As a guide, supported trials should be delivered and evaluated within approximately 12 months. For Round 1, we are looking for trials that can be implemented towards the end of 2026 or early in 2027.

Yes. You can still apply if your trial may not fit within the suggested timeframe for Round 1, as we have two other rounds. You can submit an expression of interest for Rounds 2 or 3. 

If your trial is ongoing, you may still be eligible for support if there is still time to influence the evaluation.

We understand that your timelines may vary from those laid out here, and we are keen to be flexible to support trials where we can. Please get in touch with the TEST team to discuss your circumstances in more detail.