Pop-up bus lanes for cities to tackle traffic

New lanes and gates aim to stop commuters returning to their cars as travel rates rise and lockdown rules are lifted. David Bol reports

ALMOST £19 million of funding has been pledged to roll out pop-up bus lanes and gates and improve air quality across Scotland as more people start to travel following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.

Scottish councils have been handed £10m to bring in the lanes to help speed up journey times for key workers and cut congestion in cities.

The Scottish Government has also pledged £8.8m of funding to bus operators to improve air quality by retrofitting vehicles with emissionreducing technology.

The “bus priority rapid deployment fund” will allow councils to quickly put bus priority measures in place, in a similar fashion to pop-up active travel infrastructure that has been taken up by local authorities as more people turn to walking and cycling.

The new fund will help congested areas of Scotland to put temporary measures in place, including bus lanes or gates, which will help make bus journeys quicker and more reliable for passengers.

Officials also hope the improved journey times will encourage people to use public transport instead of jumping back into their cars , especially since concerns remain over social distancing on buses and trains.

Statistics from Transport Scotland shows that between July 6 and July 12, concessionary bus journeys were down by 70 per cent on the same period last year, rail journeys were down by 85%, ferry journeys were down by 80% – but car travel was only down by 20%.

Public transport has been given an exemption for passengers from different households to remain just one metre apart amid fears over the impact on capacity of transport providers.

Funding will also be made available to bus companies and operators to help improve the emissions created by vehicles, with Low Emission Zones, currently paused, hoped to be rolled out in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen “as soon as possible”, according to Transport Secretary Michael Matheson.

He added: “I’m pleased we can offer a new £10m package of support to local authorities in order to reduce the impact of congestion on our busiest bus routes. At the same time we have improved the grant thresholds to

The bus sector is responding to not only increased operating costs during Covid-19, but also increasing congestion

encourage applications to our exhaust retrofit scheme in order to help operators meet our air-quality objectives. The bus sector is responding to not only increased operating costs during Covid-19, but also increasing congestion as restrictions are eased which will negatively impact on bus journey times.

“I hope these steps will be welcomed in conjunction with the action we have already taken to maintain the value of bus service operator grants and concessionary travel payments at pre-crisis levels. This is in addition to the £46.7m emergency funding package we’re providing to ramp up services as the lockdown eases and demand picks up.”

“With capacity on buses reduced due to physical distancing, it’s important we leave space for those that need it most.

“While this step will make bus journey times faster on pinch points, I would continue to ask people to work from home and stay local if they can.”

Officials in Edinburgh are hoping to draw up plans with neighbouring areas, including Fife, to help improve regional public transport.

The city council’s transport convener, Lesley Macinnes, said: “This funding to support the bus industry by the Scottish Government is extremely welcome and reflects the detailed work that we have been doing over the last few months.

“Working closely with neighbouring local authorities, bus operators and Sestran we have developed improvements to prioritise public transport in and around the city region, which this funding will facilitate.”