Manchester has officially launched a new partnership to create foundations for a connected transport system of the future.

TravelSpirit is designing open-source code that would allow people to travel uninterrupted across many different modes of transport via one booking.

Known as Mobility-as-a-Service (Maas), it’s been influenced by the likes of Uber, ride sharing and a future with driverless cars. Ultimately they hope that travellers will be able to buy a cross-city, or even cross-country ticket from a central point.

“Manchester will provide an excellent use case for the platform once built and it has the potential to provide a template for improving travel in major cities around the world,” an official said.

Partnering with the Manchester project  are the Department for Transport, Satellite Applications Catapult, BT, Accenture, Tech North, The Institution of Engineering & Technology and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).