Transform Scotland calls on public for ideas on future of transport

Bike - image credit: Fotolia

Transform Scotland has called on the public to come up with ideas on the future of transport in Scotland to help inform upcoming policy changes.

The group, which campaigns for sustainable transport, will select 20 ideas and present them to the Scottish Government with a call to include them in the National Transport Strategy Review, the Transport Bill, and the Strategic Transport Projects Review.

Between 2006 and 2014, the proportion of people walking to work fell from 13.8 per cent to 12.9 per cent. The proportion using buses as their usual mode of transport dropped from 11.8 per cent to 10.2 per cent, while car use increased.

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But the Scottish Government was praised by environmental groups after the Programme for Government included plans to double current spending on active travel from 2018-19.

The First Minister’s statement also included plans introduce a transport bill “to provide local authorities with flexible options to improve bus services in their local areas” and identify a public body to bid for the next ScotRail franchise contract.

Transform Scotland director Colin Howden said: “We've got our own clear ideas about what needs to happen to transform transport in Scotland, but given that the public are the ones that experience transport issues on a daily basis, we think it's also important that the general public are given an opportunity to have their say.

“Since the last national transport strategy was released in 2006, there has been a systematic failure to meet national targets for cutting congestion, reducing emissions from transport, or getting people to move to the sustainable modes of transport.

“Over the next couple of years, the Scottish Government intends to fundamentally review its transport strategy, bring forward new legislation on transport, and consider what should be the capital expenditure priorities for the next 20 years. So now seems a great time to harness the