Morningsider

Those with a long(ish) memory may remember the Scottish Government telling local authorities that they could not implement road user charging schemes due to legislative defects - but not to worry, as it would all be sorted via a "regulatory check". Well, today that check was binned:

16 Sept

So, at least according to the Scottish Government's interpretation of the law, it is now impossible for a Scottish local authority to intrduce road user charging.

1 Sept

So, the Scottish Government have announced the £2 bus fare cap for Stathclyde starts next Monday. The current 12-month pilot in the Highlands and Islands has a budget of £10 million. Seems reasonable that a cap for seven months of 2026-27 in Strathclyde would likely cost more, possibly much more.

1 Sept

Yet no budget was allocated for this, so the money will have to come from another budget. Not easy to rustle up a potential tens of millions of pounds, will be interesting to see where this cash comes from.

1 Sept

Also, this all rather gazumps the pilot exercise - which I hope was intended to see whether a Scottish cap would deliver value for money, as well as social, economic and environmental benefits.

spice-spotlight.scotThinking about transportThis post briefly introduces some key transport policy concepts, with a view to informing debate on transport matters in the new parliamentary session, with a particular focus on road transport.

6 Aug

In what must be a new low for the "Edinburgh" Evening News, they have illustrated an article about strikes at the National Galleries with a photo of...the inside of National Museum.

Morningsider reposted

Transform Scotland

@transform.scot

12 June

Motornormativity, community severance, transport poverty, forced car ownership, car bloat... All this & more unpacked in SPICe's latest transport blog. An excellent 8 minute read unpacking issues rarely understood outside academia and policy circles 👇 spice-spotlight.scot/2026/06/11/t...

bbc.co.ukHow has free bus travel for young people worked in Scotland?As England moves to give people under the age of 15 free bus travel, under-22s in Scotland have had free bus passes for four years.

A short thread on possibly the worst bit of transport policy analysis I have ever seen. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Over the same period, the number of vehicles used to provide scheduled bus services in Scotland fell by 34%, from 5,000 down to 3,300. The distance operated by Scotland’s buses fell by 20.3% (73 million kilometres) over the same period.

Given the huge sums being invested in free bus travel (now about £0.5 billion a year for all schemes) it must be worth properly investigating their effectiveness in encouraging bus use and whether the funds could be better spent - e.g. in directly supporting service provision.

A short thread on possibly the worst bit of transport policy analysis I have ever seen. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Data from Scottish Transport Statistics 2025, ONS population estimates, and the National Bus Travel Concession Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Order 2026.

Taking a step back, annual bus patronage has fallen by 125 million trips (27.2%), from 459 million trips in 2004-05 to 334 million in 2024-25 – remaining below the 2019-20 pre-covid figure of 361 million trips, despite the introduction of free bus travel for under 22s in January 2022.

A short thread on possibly the worst bit of transport policy analysis I have ever seen. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is incorrect. The young persons’ concessionary fares scheme is subject to a statutory payment cap for the first time in 2026-27, which has been set at £220.6 million.

I appreciate this might all seem a bit nit picky. However, this article gives the impression that free bus travel for under 22s in Scotland has been wildly more successful than it has been in practice.

A short thread on possibly the worst bit of transport policy analysis I have ever seen. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Also, the young persons' scheme applies from ages 5 to 21 inclusive - i.e. "under 22" rather than "under 23".

The article goes on to say that:

A short thread on possibly the worst bit of transport policy analysis I have ever seen. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

You will note the caveat "Data includes smart jourenys only". This graph massively under-reports total trips made by people aged 22+, e.g. 334 million bus trips were made in 2024-25, but the graph only shows 189.5 million trips - 144.5 million fewer trips than actually made.

I think the mistake is that the data labeled "over 23" is actually data for concessionary trips made by disabled residents and those aged 60+. They forgot to record trips that passengers actually paid for.

A short thread on possibly the worst bit of transport policy analysis I have ever seen. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Seems about right for a pretty mobile population, attending school, college, uni, work and socialising. especially when you factor in lower car ownership and use.

The next graph is a belter.

A short thread on possibly the worst bit of transport policy analysis I have ever seen. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Firstly, this graph. I mean wow. How effective has free travel for under 22s been? Well, who knows - as the well recorded impact of Covid on bus use is never mentioned. Which explains why almost no under 22s used the bus in 2021-22.

The increase in trips by under 22s since free bus travel was introduced looks incredible. However, in 2024-25 Scottish residents aged 5 to 21 accounted for 19.5% of the population and they made 24.9% of all bus trips.

14 Jan

Given the recent announcements about the A9 dualling, I had a quick dig to see if a revised Outline Business Case had been published. Nothing recent that I can see, but I did spot a November 2023 version, released under an FoI request that I haven't seen before.

gov.scotgov.scot

14 Jan

It includes this incredible nugget "The A9 Dualling Programme demonstrates a BCR [Benefit-Cost Ratio] of 0.52 that rises to 0.81, when including Driver Frustration and Wider Economic Impacts, which equates to Low Value for Money."

14 Jan

Which means for every pound invested, it is predicted to produce benefits of between 52 pence and 81 pence. Even when you include the "courageous" assumption that removing driver frustration produces a monetised benefit of £228 million.

15 Dec 2025

Thought it worth highlighting, on the day the Scottish Government ruled out reducing the speed limit on single carriageway rural roads to 50mph, that research (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...) into just such a move in France found that:

gov.scotScotland's Fiscal Outlook: The Scottish Government's Medium-Term Financial StrategyThis is the seventh Medium-Term Financial Strategy published by the Scottish Government. It provides the economic and fiscal context for the Scottish Budget and sets the medium-term strategy for susta...

25 June 2025

The Scottish Government's Medium Term Fiscal Strategy confirms a significant squeeze on the five year capital budget. Despite warm words on climate action the only transport capital project confirmed as going ahead is the £3.7bn A9 dualling. www.gov.scot/publications...

23 May 2025

The guys at the Cockburn really know how to breakfast if the noise can drown out the sound of cars, buses, delivery trucks, bin lorries and street sweepers.

democracy.edinburgh.gov.ukdemocracy.edinburgh.gov.uk

A quick crunch of the numbers on Edinburgh Council's active and sustainable travel plans. democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s8...

So realistically, you are looking at a 20 to 30 year horizon.

However, This Is Edinburgh. The city where it has taken over 10 years to bring forward a project to build a few hundred metres of cycle lane to link the Union Canal and the Meadows. So really - all bets are off.

democracy.edinburgh.gov.ukdemocracy.edinburgh.gov.uk

A quick crunch of the numbers on Edinburgh Council's active and sustainable travel plans. democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s8...

Even going with the Council's budget it would take between six and 20 years to deliver all these projects. Assuming a lower BIF total, and the fact most projects wouldn't be eligible for BIF funds - say an annual total £30 million and the timespan extends to between 8 and 24 years.

Now, even that is likely an underestimate of likely timescales. Project delivery is not constant and major projects, say George Street which is estimated at between £30m and £100m, would likely eat the entire budget and available council/contractor resource for several years.

democracy.edinburgh.gov.ukdemocracy.edinburgh.gov.uk

A quick crunch of the numbers on Edinburgh Council's active and sustainable travel plans. democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s8...

The projects slated to proceed have a total estimated cost of between £221 million and £711 million.

Edinburgh Council estimates that it will have an annual budget of £36.39 million to deliver these. This is likely an over-estimate, as it includes £10 million under the Bus Infrastructure Fund (BIF) heading. Total BIF funding for Scotland in 2025-26 is £10 million.

dailyrecord.co.ukPlan to cut 20% of car journeys in Scotland by 2030 dumped by SNP GovernmentCar usage in Scotland would need to drop to a level last seen in 1994 if the ambitious target was to have been met.

23 Apr 2025

The Scottish Government has binned its commitment to reduce car travel by 20% by 2030 (base year 2019): www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politic...

bank.gov.uaNBU Opens Special Account to Raise Funds for Ukraine’s Armed Forces (updated)  The National Bank of Ukraine has decided to open a special fundraising account to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The central bank’s decision comes after the Ukrainian gove...

1 Mar 2025

I know reposting hot takes on Zelensky/Trump might feel like all we can do in the current climate. Trust me, if you are lucky enough to have a few spare quid then donating to this feels better: bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/...

17 Dec 2024

Also the wording of the written answer leaves scope for the ScotRail HSTs to be replaced by "newer" diesels. Potentially Voyagers or Meridians!

17 Dec 2024

Scottish Ministers delay target date for the decarbonisation of the ScotRail train fleet by 10 years, from 2035 to 2045. www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-...

parliament.scot*