Edinburgh has been named the easiest city in the UK to travel in for the third year running in a new survey.

Liverpool came second and Nottingham third in the annual ESP Group Easy Travel Index (ETI).

The study praised Edinburgh's bus and tram networks while also noting tickets were competitively priced and easy to buy.

Birmingham came top for ease of long-distance travel - displacing Edinburgh, which dropped to second place.

The ETI, developed by transport and mobility services company ESP Group, questioned almost 5000 people about the ease of use of transport in cities across the UK.

Dr Steve Cassidy, managing director of ESP Group, said: "Edinburgh has excelled itself once again, maintaining pole position in the rankings which is testament to the strong, integrated transport networks it continues to develop.

"Our latest Easy Travel Index demonstrates that high proportions of travellers feel routes and timetables can often make local and long-distance travel difficult.

"Numerous people in cities across the UK aren't finding travel options easy due to a variety of network challenges, difficulties with interactions, touchpoints and the overall service offering."

They found just under a third (30%) of people who required assistance to travel by rail did not request help from the train operating company because they felt uncomfortable doing so.

One in five (22%) said they did not even know that passenger assistance existed.

The study found throughout the UK the rising cost of transport is the biggest difficulty facing those surveyed.

Just over a third (34%) of people report cost of transport affects their local travel, rising to 44% for long-distance travel.

Dr Cassidy said: "Some of the statistics from the ETI report make alarming reading. There are so many initiatives to support passengers in using public transport and help them understand how to use the system and make travel easier - even when things go wrong."