Scottish Government urged to spend more on public transport and less on cycling

The Scottish Government has been urged by a group of councillors to spend more on public transport and less on schemes aimed at encouraging active travel, such as cycling, with the country currently committing levels of funding never before seen in the UK to get more people walking, wheeling, and riding bikes.

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), the regional transport partnership for Glasgow and surrounding areas, believes that the government’s focus on cycling and walking comes at the expense of investment in public transport, reports The Glasgow Times.

In a letter addressed to active travel minister, the Scottish Green Party’s Patrick Harvie, a cross-party trio of councillors who sit on the body say that “a sense of balance” has been lost and that current policies work against those who are less mobile.

SNP councillor and SPT chair Stephen Dorman signed the letter, which was co-signed by vice-chairs Alan Moir from Labour and the Conservative councillor David Wilson.

“My political partners and I, at SPT, are concerned that the current emphasis on active travel is actively precluding working with all modes of public transport,” Dornan wrote.

“SPT is, of course, supportive of all active travel modes but we appear to have lost a sense of balance.

“Active travel must integrate and work with public transport and there must be accessible travel options for those who cannot [undertake] active travel.

“We should not forget [that] not everyone is able to cycle or walk.”

In response, Transport Scotland, the executive agency which manages transport projects, ScotRail and all motorways and major A-class roads in the country, insisted that the government is investing adequately in public transport.

“The Scottish Government is committed to sustainable travel, which is why we invest over £2 billion annually to support public transport,” a Transport Scotland spokesperson insisted.

“We agree that active travel and public transport should be well integrated to serve the needs of communities and cross-sector work, such as the Sustainable Travel to Stations strategy, makes a vital contribution to delivering this.”

The Scottish Government is run by the SNP and Scottish Green Party under a cooperation and confidence and supply agreement signed in 2021 and known as the Bute House Agreement.

The agreement provides that at least £320 million or 10 per cent of the total transport budget in Scotland will be allocated to active travel by 2024-25.

For 2023-24, £190 million has been committed to active travel in the country, equivalent to around £38 million per capita – compared to just £1 per head in England outside London after the active travel budget was slashed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt earlier this year.

> England’s active travel spend 5,000 per cent less than Scotland’s after budget slash

“We are also committed to continuing to build on our recent record investment in active travel, after decades when walking, wheeling and cycling received relatively little funding despite clear evidence that people wanted to do more,” the Transport Scotland spokesperson continued.

“That’s why we support ambitious projects across Scotland designed to improve our public spaces and access to the public transport network, for example by creating safe routes to schools, segregated cycling lanes and improved pathways.”

The spokesperson also defended the agency’s record in helping those who are less mobile, saying: “Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework was co-produced with disabled people and is focused on improving the overall journey experience for disabled people by removing the barriers which prevent them travelling.

“All of our actions and investment are underpinned by the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy and Sustainable Investment Hierarchy, which prioritise walking, wheeling and cycling and shared transport options over single car use,” they added.

Glasgow, which earlier this year hosted the first ever multi-disciplinary UCI World Cycling Championships, is currently building cycle lanes and making safety improvements at key junctions under its 2022-31 Active Travel Strategy (ATS).

According to Glasgow City Council, the ATS “is a recognition of the current focus on the climate emergency and the important contribution that all forms of active and sustainable travel can make towards achieving our goal of net zero carbon by 2030, as well as delivering on other outcomes for the city around health and wellbeing and an inclusive and equitable economy and society.

“The ATS aims to deliver significant modal shift across the city over the next ten years, through delivering on its vision that: “walking, wheeling and cycling in Glasgow will be the first and natural choice for everyday journeys, for people of all ages and ability, to travel locally to schools, to shops, to work, or to the city centre.”