LCB apprentices bring European influence back from transport field trip

A group of 17 Leeds College of Building  Transport Planning Technician Apprentices have completed a week-long transport field trip across the Netherlands and Germany, writes Sarah Carter of LCB.

Our apprentices looked at how major cities Delft, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Essen, Wuppertal, Düsseldorf, and Cologne have tackled large scale integrated transport projects.

Taking in the central train stations of Rotterdam and Utrecht, and riding the segregated cycling infrastructure of Delft, our students got hands-on experience of international best practice when it comes to mass transport planning.

During the field trip our apprentices worked towards two units of their qualification and completed seven assessed data-collection activities.

The programme is a collaboration between LCB and with Berufskolleg Essen Ost (BKO)  in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region.

Apprentices looked at how major cities have tackled large integrated transport projects. Credit: Leeds College of Building

BKO and LCB are celebrating 34 years of partnership this year, which has seen various staff and student exchanges between the two colleges.

During the trip our apprentices visited BKO’s recently upgraded campus, met the College Principal and worked with German apprentices who visited LCB as part of an exchange earlier this year.

Coming at a time when West Yorkshire Combined Authority is rolling out the Weaver Network across the county, the trip feels particularly pertinent for everyone in transport planning.

West Yorkshire is entering an incredibly important period for transport – we are looking at major investment in mass transit, buses, rail, active travel and the creation of a much more integrated network.

To deliver those ambitions, the region will need people with the right skills, but we also want those people to be curious about what is happening beyond West Yorkshire and the UK.

That is what makes this experience so valuable, our apprentices aren’t just learning about integrated transport in a classroom, they are standing inside some of Europe’s leading multimodal transport hubs.

They are cycling on infrastructure designed around active travel and seeing how decades of policy and investment decisions have shaped the way people move around cities.

They can then come back to their employer and ask: what have we learned, what could work here and what could we do differently?

Students visited some of Europe’s leading multimodal transport hubs. Credit: Leeds College of Building

What’s particularly relevant is that many of the things our apprentices are studying in Europe are exactly the conversations taking place back home.

Integration between different modes of transport, active travel, major public transport investment and designing places around how people move are all top of the agenda.

The point isn’t to suggest that we simply replicate what another country has done, it is about developing transport professionals who can critically examine international best practice.

They return to the UK understanding what works, why it works and consider whether elements of it could be adapted to the communities they serve.

For employers, that creates people who aren’t just technically capable. They are developing a wider professional outlook and bringing global learning back into their workplace.

The next intake start date is 19 October 2026. If you’re an employer and you’re interested in developing your transport planning workforce please email me at [email protected]

Want to be a part of programmes like this one? Then come find an LCB course that works for you right here

• Sarah Carter is a transport planning project manager at Leeds College of Building.