That emphasis was so subtle; I will certainly take the hint to be brief. I will give a broad overview and there will undoubtedly be many issues that we will delve into during our discussion.
On ferries, it is worth mentioning that since I last appeared before the committee in March to discuss transport in general, I have announced a scheme to significantly reduce fares on the northern isles ferry service. That will be rolled out in the first half of 2018. A road equivalent tariff will be introduced on the Pentland Firth routes, while a variant of the RET scheme will be brought in on the routes from Aberdeen to Kirkwall and Lerwick. That will see passenger fares cut by an average of more than 40 per cent, while car fares will be reduced by an average of more than 30 per cent.
My overriding priority is to provide the best ferry services possible. On 2 February 2017, I made a statement to the Parliament announcing that a policy review would be undertaken of the future procurement of lifeline ferry services. On 20 July 2017, I further informed the Parliament that the policy review would be extended beyond its autumn timeline to ensure full compliance with the Teckal exemption and to allow more detailed consideration of the complex state aid rules, particularly the fourth Altmark criterion. I also committed to publishing the interim report setting out emerging findings from the review, including the implications for our three lifeline ferry contracts, namely Clyde and Hebrides, northern isles and Gourock to Dunoon. I will do that in the next few weeks.
On roads, we published our future intelligent transport strategy in November. That has been developed in the context of increasing in-car technology and developments in data management. We are firmly committed to using technology to continually improve the experience of the road user.
Since my appearance before the committee in March, we have completed a number of major infrastructure projects—which we can undoubtedly delve into—including the Queensferry crossing and the improvement works on the M8, M73 and M74. Above and beyond that, we are taking forward projects that we have committed to in the long term. For example, the new 7.5km section of dual carriageway between Kincraig and Dalraddy opened in late August. That was a significant milestone in achieving the Scottish Government’s ambition to introduce more than 80 miles of new dual carriageway on the A9.
We are also pushing ahead with our road safety measures. Members will be aware of average speed cameras recently going live on the A90 on the 51.5-mile stretch between Dundee and Stonehaven. We are very confident that that will have the same safety benefits that we have seen on the A9 and A77.
On rail, I know that the committee had an update a few weeks ago from Alex Hynes on major projects. Due to the brevity of my opening statement, I am more than happy during the discussion to go into detail on projects such as the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement programme or other major projects, and where they are at.
I thought that it would be worth while to give a brief update in my opening statement on our ambition to have a public sector bidder for future Scottish rail franchises. We have made the necessary changes to the legislation. We have held cross-party meetings and I am pleased that every single political party has been involved in those discussions, as have the trade unions and others. We are now considering what the appropriate vehicle would be to take forward a future public sector bidder.
There are also on-going discussions with the United Kingdom Government on railway funding for control period 6. That may be something that I can delve into in our discussion so I will not go into it in my opening statement, other than to say that there is a significant shortfall between the industry’s aspirations and what is currently on offer, but those negotiations are live.
Since my appearance before the committee in March, we have had the First Minister’s programme for government. There were a number of commitments on decarbonising transport at the heart of the programme. We are progressing with the ambition to phase out the need for diesel and petrol cars by 2032—eight years ahead of the UK target. Significant work is being done internally to see how we can reach that target; it will need an increase in infrastructure as well as behavioural change. I am happy to elaborate on that during our discussions.
Low emission zones will be part of decarbonising transport too. I am delighted that Glasgow was announced as the first zone, with Scotland’s four biggest cities following by 2020. There will be other air management quality zones thereafter.
We continue to support active travel. I am particularly proud that the active travel budget has doubled. How we spend that so that we get the most bang for our buck will be incredibly important. On the back of the very important Liberal Democrat amendment during the recent active travel debate, we will look at how we target the money at the early years for cycle training.
I will elaborate in more detail later on buses if the committee wishes. As I have said many times before, I am not content to preside over, or manage, decline. Therefore a number of consultations are on-going, from concessionary travel, on which the consultation has just closed, to the measures on buses that we wish to take in the proposed transport bill, which include, but are not limited to, local franchising, municipally owned bus companies, open data, enhanced partnerships and smart ticketing.
I have tried to be as brief as I can be with my broad overview. I am really happy to take questions on those issues or on any other issues in the transport portfolio.