The Scottish Government’s Fair Fares Review has grabbed headlines but it cannot address the biggest transport challenges
The launch of the £500m Bus Partnership Fund in 2019. It has now been paused
BY Paul White
“Continued delays to the updated climate change plan and further slippage in promised climate policies mean that the Climate Change Committee no longer believes that the Scottish Government will meet its statutory 2030 goal to reduce emissions by 75%. There is no comprehensive strategy for Scotland to decarbonise towards Net Zero.”
These are the damning conclusions of the Climate Change Committee, an independent, statutory body established to advise the UK and devolved governments on emissions targets and to report progress.
For Scotland to meet its stated targets for transport emissions by 2030 it would require the annual reduction rate to increase by a factor of four. There is no current clear path as to how this could possibly be achieved. The objective of cutting car kilometres by 20% by 2030 is a case in point. Scottish Government published a route map in 2022 but we still await a delivery plan with concrete actions that will enable the target to be met.
These self-imposed targets were worn as a badge of pride, highlighting the ambition of the Scottish Government and its commitment to a green economic recovery from Covid. Now they are an albatross around the necks of ministers, tasked with setting policy to reach a goal that already seems out of sight.
This is important context for the recent publication of the Fair Fares Review (FFR).
The Review sets out the government’s aim to ensure the public transport system is more accessible, available, and affordable, with the costs of transport more fairly shared across government, business, and society. Cabinet secretary for transport, Fiona Hyslop has hailed the review, stating: “A sustainable and viable public transport system is also vital in achieving our ambitions on net zero as well as our target to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030. I’m pleased to publish the Fair Fares Review and to be taking decisive action to ensure our transport system is fit for purpose and supports our National Transport Strategy’s priorities of reducing inequalities, taking climate action, helping to deliver inclusive economic growth and improving our health and wellbeing.”
The Scottish Government needs to generate a huge shift from car to more sustainable modes in order to meet its climate objectives. This cannot be delivered by loose plans to ‘develop proposals’ or ‘consider options’
There are two issues with the review. The first is the albatross. The Scottish Government needs to generate a huge shift from car to more sustainable modes in order to meet its climate objectives. This cannot be delivered by loose plans to ‘develop proposals’ or ‘consider options’. Government urgently needs to be taking decisive action on carbon reduction. The review sets out a tentative approach, advocating minor changes to free travel eligibility and to think further on potential fares and ticketing initiatives.
Why has the government taken this approach? Because of the second issue with the review, the elephant in the room. The Scottish Government faces a hugely challenging financial position which the Institute for Fiscal Studies forecasts will only worsen over the next few years. All future schemes and proposals have to be considered in the full knowledge that the Scottish Government does not have additional resource to put to them.
The review includes an objective to reduce the operational costs of public transport, yet the Scottish Government recently paused the Bus Partnership Fund for this financial year – a scheme that would have delivered these operational savings alongside journey time improvements for passengers.
Then cabinet secretary for transport, net zero and just transition, Mairi McAllan, confirmed that new schemes and planned improvements were out of scope while giving evidence to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on the draft budget, “Given the settlement that I faced [a near 10% cut in my capital budget from the UK Government], my responsibility to the transport network had to be, first and foremost, to keep services running, to keep the network reliable and to keep it safe.”
This confluence of a need to act and a lack of budget has resulted in a review that looks longingly at the level of investment given to sustainable and active transport in other countries, full in the knowledge that it must cut its cloth accordingly and is limited to relatively small-scale interventions now and vague plans to consider action in the future.
Kicking the can down the road comes with consequences. In terms of bus service provision, the impact of congestion is worsening, operational costs are increasing, and government support, in the form of the Network Support Grant, has taken a real-terms cut of 20% over the last 12 years.
If government is serious about making public transport a more attractive, reliable alternative to the car to generate the level of modal shift required, it cannot sit on its hands.
If government is serious about making public transport a more attractive, reliable alternative to the car to generate the level of modal shift required, it cannot sit on its hands.
Furthermore, there is a Scottish general election in 2026 and local elections in 2027. Are we likely to see bold commitments made that prioritise public transport over the private car ahead of these dates? In this essence, 2030 is not that far away.
This is the impossible situation facing Scottish Government. The albatross of emission targets weighing heavy around its neck, the elephant in the room being the scarcity of budget to make real progress. Ministers cannot afford inaction but can’t afford to take real action.
Government must now turn to key stakeholders for guidance. It cannot assume to know how best to allocate resource to enable bus, coach, and other modes of sustainable transport, to deliver its policy goals. Concurrently, officials and stakeholders must collectively build the case for more transport funding, recognising that investment in public transport contributes to a range of wider policy goals. A focus on costed, deliverable interventions may not be as headline-grabbing as the oft-referenced Fair Fares Review but they are the fairest and fastest way to helping ministers get this albatross off their necks.
The Fair Fares Review includes a series of recommendations relating to bus. These include:
Develop a proposal for a bus flat fares pilot for an area-based scheme to provide flat fares on bus travel, or reduced fares on zonal integrated travel for consideration in future budgets.
Develop policy to provide free bus travel to asylum seekers and people with substance dependency issues.
Consider options and develop the business case for introducing a national and/or regional integrated ticket and fares structure.
Consider establishing a National Forum on the Future of Public Transport, to co-ordinate improvement of delivery of a quality, accessible, available and affordable integrated public transport system.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul White is Director, Scotland for the Confederation of Passenger Transport.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
The albatross and the elephant
by Passenger Transport on Apr 5, 2024 • 10:41 am No CommentsThe Scottish Government’s Fair Fares Review has grabbed headlines but it cannot address the biggest transport challenges
BY Paul White
“Continued delays to the updated climate change plan and further slippage in promised climate policies mean that the Climate Change Committee no longer believes that the Scottish Government will meet its statutory 2030 goal to reduce emissions by 75%. There is no comprehensive strategy for Scotland to decarbonise towards Net Zero.”
These are the damning conclusions of the Climate Change Committee, an independent, statutory body established to advise the UK and devolved governments on emissions targets and to report progress.
For Scotland to meet its stated targets for transport emissions by 2030 it would require the annual reduction rate to increase by a factor of four. There is no current clear path as to how this could possibly be achieved. The objective of cutting car kilometres by 20% by 2030 is a case in point. Scottish Government published a route map in 2022 but we still await a delivery plan with concrete actions that will enable the target to be met.
These self-imposed targets were worn as a badge of pride, highlighting the ambition of the Scottish Government and its commitment to a green economic recovery from Covid. Now they are an albatross around the necks of ministers, tasked with setting policy to reach a goal that already seems out of sight.
This is important context for the recent publication of the Fair Fares Review (FFR).
The Review sets out the government’s aim to ensure the public transport system is more accessible, available, and affordable, with the costs of transport more fairly shared across government, business, and society. Cabinet secretary for transport, Fiona Hyslop has hailed the review, stating: “A sustainable and viable public transport system is also vital in achieving our ambitions on net zero as well as our target to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030. I’m pleased to publish the Fair Fares Review and to be taking decisive action to ensure our transport system is fit for purpose and supports our National Transport Strategy’s priorities of reducing inequalities, taking climate action, helping to deliver inclusive economic growth and improving our health and wellbeing.”
There are two issues with the review. The first is the albatross. The Scottish Government needs to generate a huge shift from car to more sustainable modes in order to meet its climate objectives. This cannot be delivered by loose plans to ‘develop proposals’ or ‘consider options’. Government urgently needs to be taking decisive action on carbon reduction. The review sets out a tentative approach, advocating minor changes to free travel eligibility and to think further on potential fares and ticketing initiatives.
Why has the government taken this approach? Because of the second issue with the review, the elephant in the room. The Scottish Government faces a hugely challenging financial position which the Institute for Fiscal Studies forecasts will only worsen over the next few years. All future schemes and proposals have to be considered in the full knowledge that the Scottish Government does not have additional resource to put to them.
The review includes an objective to reduce the operational costs of public transport, yet the Scottish Government recently paused the Bus Partnership Fund for this financial year – a scheme that would have delivered these operational savings alongside journey time improvements for passengers.
Then cabinet secretary for transport, net zero and just transition, Mairi McAllan, confirmed that new schemes and planned improvements were out of scope while giving evidence to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on the draft budget, “Given the settlement that I faced [a near 10% cut in my capital budget from the UK Government], my responsibility to the transport network had to be, first and foremost, to keep services running, to keep the network reliable and to keep it safe.”
This confluence of a need to act and a lack of budget has resulted in a review that looks longingly at the level of investment given to sustainable and active transport in other countries, full in the knowledge that it must cut its cloth accordingly and is limited to relatively small-scale interventions now and vague plans to consider action in the future.
Kicking the can down the road comes with consequences. In terms of bus service provision, the impact of congestion is worsening, operational costs are increasing, and government support, in the form of the Network Support Grant, has taken a real-terms cut of 20% over the last 12 years.
If government is serious about making public transport a more attractive, reliable alternative to the car to generate the level of modal shift required, it cannot sit on its hands.
Furthermore, there is a Scottish general election in 2026 and local elections in 2027. Are we likely to see bold commitments made that prioritise public transport over the private car ahead of these dates? In this essence, 2030 is not that far away.
This is the impossible situation facing Scottish Government. The albatross of emission targets weighing heavy around its neck, the elephant in the room being the scarcity of budget to make real progress. Ministers cannot afford inaction but can’t afford to take real action.
Government must now turn to key stakeholders for guidance. It cannot assume to know how best to allocate resource to enable bus, coach, and other modes of sustainable transport, to deliver its policy goals. Concurrently, officials and stakeholders must collectively build the case for more transport funding, recognising that investment in public transport contributes to a range of wider policy goals. A focus on costed, deliverable interventions may not be as headline-grabbing as the oft-referenced Fair Fares Review but they are the fairest and fastest way to helping ministers get this albatross off their necks.
The Fair Fares Review includes a series of recommendations relating to bus. These include:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul White is Director, Scotland for the Confederation of Passenger Transport.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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