Shaping our communities for future generations
In Scotland, we want our communities to be
- cleaner
- greener
- healthier
- fairer
- more prosperous
for all. Scottish Government's national transport strategy also has this in their aims.
This includes giving priority to walking, wheeling, cycling and public transport. In Edinburgh, this will help us achieve our ambitious target to be net-zero by 2030.
Our City Mobility Plan sets out our high-level plans about how we are going to achieve this. Our plan is part of our wider approach and includes
- City Centre Transformation
- low emission zone
- Trams to Newhaven
- many exciting active travel projects which will connect communities.
In our City Mobility Plan, we also promise to improve bus journey times and make buses more reliable.
Use of buses in Edinburgh
During the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer people used buses. We are only starting to see more people using buses. Bus journey times are also increasing because of road congestion.
We want to
- make travelling by bus more attractive
- support bus companies.
We can do this if we make changes to give buses more priority on the roads. These changes can help to
- make shorter journey times by allowing buses to travel more quickly
- allow buses to run on the times shown on bus timetables
- help people to get to the amenities they need more quickly and reliably
- make people feel more confident that buses will get them to where they want to go and on time
Funding for improving buses journey times
The Scottish Government is investing over £500 million to do this in its bus partnership fund. We got over £3 million from the fund to develop options for how we will make changes. We are working with other councils in the south-east of Scotland to deliver these changes. This work comes under our Edinburgh Corridors Bus Partnership Fund Programme.