January 12 2024
CPT Scotland has written to the Minister for Transport following the announcement in the draft budget that “there are no plans to provide direct funding for the Bus Partnership Fund in 2024-25”.
The Fund was first announced as a landmark, long term investment in the 2019 Programme for Government, and launched in 2020 with a commitment to providing an investment of over £500m to deliver targeted bus priority measures on local and trunk roads, intended to reduce the negative impacts of congestion on bus services and address the decline in bus patronage. To date however only around £26.9 million of the announced £500m has been awarded to Partnerships.
We are keen to understand what this pause in funding mean in practice for Partnerships and Alliances and work already in progress across the country, and to seek assurances on the Scottish Government’s long-term commitment to investing in bus priority infrastructure.
You can read the letter here, which has been copied to the Scottish Parliament Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee as part of their budget scrutiny.