The Scottish National Party launched its election manifesto last week, promising to revolutionise Edinburgh’s bus services as an alternative to the tram network.
The party believed the tram scheme was a ‘glorified folly’, and money would be better spent on projects including bus services, justice spokesman Kenny MacAskill said.
If elected next month, the SNP would use the £1.1bn of allocated capital spending from the rail and tram projects and channel £300M of it into rail improvements, while spending £800M on improving highways infrastructure, providing better integrated public transport, and progressing with a new Forth crossing.
‘For the cost of £700M, we could replace all our existing buses with state-of-the-art, low emission, low-boarding buses… and run every bus in Edinburgh for free,’ MacAskill said.
Included in the proposed highways investment were improvements to the A9, A96 and A77.
The party also plans to combine transport, environment and sustainable economic growth into one department of government. It plans to set an ‘ambitious target’ for the use of alternative road fuels, as well as beginning to consult on the most effective target for the use of biofuels and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
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