Scots’ £15M to drive sustainable travel

25 March 2008
 
The Scottish Government will make £15M available over three years to support ‘sustainable travel communities’ across the country.

For a cost of £10M, car use had declined by an average of about 10% in England’s three sustainable travel towns of Darlington, Worcester and Peterborough.

But Scottish transport minister, Stewart Stevenson, of the Scottish National Party, said he wanted ‘to see Scotland do even better’. His £15M – compared with the Department for Transport’s £10M over five years, launched in 2004 – would tackle ‘increasing car use and rising emissions,’ claimed the minister.

Cllr Alison Hay, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities’ sustainable development spokesperson, said: ‘I am excited about this project. Councils have long advocated sustainable travel by providing cycling and access routes, and promoting public transport. This project allows us to look at how we can make these shifts in a big way.’

The Campaign for Better Transport has urged further funding for more sustainable travel towns, following the success to date of the initial three pilots.

The-then minister for local transport, Gillian Merron, wrote to chief executives last summer to highlight the demonstration’s ‘exciting results’. Car trips were reduced by 11-13% in the space of two years, while public transport use increased by 13-22% and cycling by up to 79%.

The Scottish Government wants innovative ideas, including not just revenue-funding interventions such as individual travel marketing and school/workplace travel plans, as with the DfT trial, but also capital-funded infrastructure schemes such as park-and-ride facilities and improving the public realm. Other Scottish Government ideas include the provision of discounted bicycles, and free bus tickets to ‘encourage residents to give it a try’.

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