Holyrood Transport Bill ‘lacks imagination’

Legislation to improve the transport system in Scotland fails to “push the limits of policy imagination”, according to a Tory MSP.

The general principles of the Scottish Government’s Transport Bill, which brings forward proposals to make improvements across several different areas, were debated at Holyrood yesterday.

The bill includes measures to improve bus pass usage, air quality within cities and to increase the safety and efficiency of roadworks, as well as addressing issues around parking.

But Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Greene claimed the proposals do not go far enough.

Mr Greene said: “This bill overall tinkers with existing legislation and proposes fairly benign new powers as it’s currently drafted.

“It’s all very necessary perhaps, but it doesn’t exactly push the limits of policy imagination.

“There’s little on the longterm plans to improve community travel and transport … or anything that proposes to deliver dramatic improvements to our railways, our ferries or a radical overhaul of the state of Scotland’s roads.”

Transport secretary Michael Matheson said the bill would help to make a number of improvements to Scotland’s transport system and should be viewed as part of a wider strategy.