Current status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the operation of the Bus Partnership Fund.
The Scottish Government is pleased to announce in the draft budget that we will provide a Bus Infrastructure Fund in 2025-26 focussed on delivering bus priority, supporting infrastructure measures to tackle the negative impact of congestion and local public transport improvements. This brings the Bus Partnership Fund and Community Bus Fund together into one fund.
£20.5 million was spent on bus priority through the Bus Partnership Fund. This has delivered bus gates, enforcement cameras, and equipment to help buses get through traffic lights more quickly in North Ayrshire, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. It has also assisted in making a number of temporary measures, such as bus lanes, permanent in Edinburgh and Glasgow. A bus gate at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness also opened helping buses to by-pass congestion and passengers to access this important facility more quickly.