- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 30 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to take forward the recommendations in the Transport Scotland report, "There’s an app for that!" - Women’s Safety on Public Transport in Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 30 May 2024
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when the National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board will submit its operational plan for delivery.
Answer
The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board will submit their first draft work programme to Scottish Ministers for approval by 28 May 2024, outlining the advice they intend to issue over three years. This collaborative advice will inform the future of smart ticketing in Scotland including how to improve its consistency, accessibility and interoperability.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on the delivery of recommendation 11 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) to date, and what any funding has been used for.
Answer
Since the publication of the draft of STPR2 in January 2022, a multi-partner working group consisting of Transport Scotland (TS), Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and Glasgow City Council (GCC) has been established to better define the scale of work that Clyde Metro might represent and the associated resource and programme requirements. This is overseen by a Programme Steering Group comprising of the Chief Executives of those organisations. SPT are leading the current stage of Clyde Metro, known as the case for investment stage, working alongside Glasgow City Council and with Transport Scotland providing support in a project assurance role.
Since the publication of STPR2, Transport Scotland took a lead on delivering the recommendation on behalf of the Programme Steering Group and have spent approximately £921,000 on early consultancy services aimed at defining the scope, governance, programme and budget of Clyde Metro. This does not include spend incurred by SPT and GCC.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the delivery of recommendation 11 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2).
Answer
Since the publication of the draft of STPR2 in January 2022, a multi-partner working group consisting of Transport Scotland (TS), Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and Glasgow City Council (GCC) has been established to better define the scale of work that Clyde Metro might represent and the associated resource and programme requirements. This is overseen by a Programme Steering Group comprising of the Chief Executives of those organisations. SPT are leading the current stage of Clyde Metro, known as the case for investment stage, working alongside Glasgow City Council and with Transport Scotland providing support in a project assurance role. This key stage, which is currently underway, will define the Clyde Metro network. I understand that SPT have recently appointed consultants for some early work, with procurement of a framework for multi-disciplinary consultancy services for later phases of the case for investment currently ongoing.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when a decision will be made regarding the Scottish Funding Council’s recommendation to end the regional colleges arrangement in Lanarkshire and Glasgow.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2024
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what evidence was used to support the statement in the appraisal summary for recommendation 6 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) that there has been “effective delivery of behavioural change initiatives in Scotland”, in light of the 2022 Active Travel National Indicator showing that journeys by active travel under two miles have fallen since 2012.
Answer
STPR2 Recommendation 6 considered a significant body of evidence from projects across Scotland and the UK. This demonstrated that with the provision of specific and targeted information there is potential to change people’s travel behaviour. This includes encouraging more people to walk, wheel and cycle for shorter journeys and to use public transport for trips that they previously used a private car for. The impact of these types of programmes can be more effective when supporting new related infrastructure projects.
The transport appraisal that supported Recommendation 6 considered the evaluation of projects in Scotland undertaken as part of the Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme. This noted that, of the schemes that promoted walking and cycling, around 40% of those people that were reached were more active as a result.
As part of Scotland’s National Performance Framework there is a ‘journeys by active travel’ National Indicator, which monitors the proportion of short journeys that are made only by the active modes of walking and cycling. This shows that whilst there has indeed been a small decline in the percentage of journeys under 2 miles by walking as the main mode, positively the percentage of journeys under 5 miles by cycling as the main mode, has increased since 2012. Transport Scotland will continue to monitor the impacts of all the STPR2 Recommendations, as part of its normal cycle of monitoring and review of the impacts of its investment in Scotland’s transport network.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding recommendation 6 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), what the timescale is for (a) allocating and (b) spending the travel behaviour change grant funding by Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs).
Answer
A new model for delivery of active travel behaviour change interventions has been introduced for 2024-25. The People and Place programme will be delivered by Scotland’s seven Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs). Grant offer letters have been issued to all of the RTPs which contain the information required for drawing down funding from their allocation once the grant offer is accepted. This funding will be available to the RTPs, working with their delivery partners, to spend on behaviour change interventions during the 2024-25 financial year.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on the delivery of recommendation 13 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) to date, and what any funding has been used for.
Answer
The North East Bus Alliance has spent £9.94 million from the Bus Partnership Fund. This includes funding for the business case for Aberdeen Rapid Transit (ART) and bus priority on its associated corridors. This also includes £0.33 million for the development and delivery of bus gates in Aberdeen City Centre, which opened in August 2023, and supporting works of £7.98 million on South College Street, which enabled the bus gates. The North East Bus Alliance have reported that bus gates in Aberdeen City Centre have reduced journey times for passengers by up to 25%, benefitting over 600,000 passengers each month.
Future work on ART, led by Nestrans and its partners Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and the North East Bus Alliance, will be funded through the Aberdeen City Region Deal.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) kilometres of bus priority lanes and (b) other strategic bus priority measures have been put in place since the adoption of recommendation 14 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2).
Answer
a) The length of carriageway or lane reserved for the use of buses (and other vehicles as identified) delivered through the Bus Partnership Fund is 12.16km. This includes bus gates in Aberdeen City Centre, which the North East Bus Alliance has reported to have reduced journey times for passengers by up to 25%, and a bus gate at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, opened in March 2024, providing improved public transport access to this important facility as well as improving connectivity with the city centre. A section of bus lane has also been delivered on the M8 eastbound between Claylands (Junction 2 of the M8) and Hermiston Gait (Junction 1 of the M8) in the form of an actively managed hard shoulder for buses. This also includes 2.58km of BPF funded bus lanes in Edinburgh that are currently in operation and the Council are seeking to make permanent.
b) In addition to bus lanes, other bus priority and supporting measures have been delivered through the Bus Partnership Fund. This includes bus priority at 66 signalised junctions across Scotland, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Ayrshire, Oban, Dundee and Perth, helping buses to get through them more quickly. Seven supporting projects have also been completed, including measures such as bus lane enforcement cameras. When the Bus Partnership Fund was launched and STPR2 was published, there were not many bus priority measures identified that could be built straight away. Therefore the Bus Partnership Fund also provided funding which has seen 32 studies completed to identify, develop and design further pipeline bus priority measures.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many village to town routes have been funded under recommendation 3 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), and what proportion of the total possible routes this represents.
Answer
The Scottish Government funding for active travel projects is not allocated based on STPR2 recommendation delivered. We fund a range of projects throughout Scotland that deliver on recommendation 3 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) to connect villages to towns by active travel. This includes funding for the National Cycle Network programme, investment in active travel infrastructure on the trunk road network, and funding provided to local authorities via the Sustrans Places for Everyone programme and the new Active Travel Infrastructure fund, and directly through the Cycling Walking Safer Routes (CWSR) grant.
