\u00a0 \u00a0 As recently as last October, Scotland\u2019s minister for transport, Fiona Hyslop, told Passenger Transport<\/em> that the Bus Partnership Fund was \u201ca key area of investment\u201d. However, the initiative has now been halted with only \u00a326.9m of the \u00a3500m spent.<\/p>\n The largest project to have received funding saw the introduction in August 2023 of bus gates in Aberdeen. On a recent visit to the city, Hyslop saw how the new bus gates have resulted in faster and more reliable journeys for bus users. Meanwhile, major operators have reinvested the savings they have made and are offering free weekend travel across the region in January.<\/p>\n Representing bus operators, CPT Scotland has written to Hyslop to seek assurances on the future of the Bus Partnership Fund in 2024\/25 and the Scottish Government\u2019s long-term commitment to investing in bus priority infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bus Partnership Fund was a landmark announcement, demonstrating the Scottish Government\u2019s commitment to supporting bus and growing bus use,\u201d said CPT Scotland director Paul White. \u201cIt could still be the catalyst for partnerships across Scotland, facilitating bus priority projects that deliver social and economic benefits, as well as contributing to wider government objectives.<\/p>\n Over the past four years, operators and authorities have invested heavily in developing fund bids, 17 of which are ready to commence<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past four years, operators and authorities have invested heavily in developing fund bids, 17 of which are ready to commence. To pause the fund at this stage, is counter to the government\u2019s National Transport Strategy priorities and leaves partnerships across the country in limbo, to say nothing of the impact on bus users.<\/p>\n \u201cCPT will continue to press the Scottish Government to reconsider this decision, or to set out how partnerships continue productively through this financial year in the absence of any national funding support.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 Reflecting on the Bus Partnership Fund, he said: \u201cThe Scottish Government responded exceptionally well. This \u00a3500m that they provided was well targeted and would certainly have done the job had we managed to get schemes into place. <\/p>\n The weak link was always going to be getting local authorities to act<\/p>\n \u201cThe weak link was always going to be getting local authorities to act. None of this was going to please car users so wasn\u2019t going to be a vote winner, regardless of being the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 DON\u2019T MISS OUT \u2013 GET YOUR COPY! \u2013\u00a0click here to subscribe!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The post Bus Partnership Fund pause disappoints CPT<\/a> first appeared on Passenger Transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u200b\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scottish Government pledged \u00a3500m \u2013 but has spent only \u00a326.9m \u00a0As recently as last October, Scotland\u2019s minister for transport, Fiona Hyslop, told Passenger Transport that the Bus Partnership Fund was \u201ca key area of investment\u201d \u00a0 Formally launched in November 2020, Scotland\u2019s Bus Partnership Fund was hailed as a \u201clandmark long-term capital investment of over \u00a3500m for bus priority measures\u201d.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
As recently as last October, Scotland\u2019s minister for transport, Fiona Hyslop, told <\/em>Passenger Transport<\/em> that the Bus Partnership Fund was \u201ca key area of investment\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFormally launched in November 2020, Scotland\u2019s Bus Partnership Fund was hailed as a \u201clandmark long-term capital investment of over \u00a3500m for bus priority measures\u201d. But with the Scottish Government having \u201cno plans\u201d to make money available to the fund in the next financial year, there are fears over its future.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nRalph Roberts, CEO of McGill\u2019s Bus Group, played a key role in securing the commitment from the Scottish Government to invest \u00a3500m in bus infrastructure. He had asked Michael Mathieson, who was then secretary for transport, infrastructure and connectivity for \u00a31bn over 10 years to transform bus travel and free up buses from congestion.<\/p>\n
This article appears in the latest issue of\u00a0Passenger Transport<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n