We were delighted to host our Zero-Carbon Public Transport Summit in Inverness this June, bringing together our members, local politicians and transport operators to discuss how Scotland can take action on climate and cut emissions from its public transport network. Catch up on the event in our report below:
Opening session
Event chair, Jenny Milne of the Scottish Rural and Islands Transport Community (SRITC), welcomed delegates to the Summit and spoke about the crucial role of transport in the lives of rural communities.
We next heard from our very own Ros Browning who highlighted the urgency of the climate crisis, before drawing attention to the vital role of transport in tackling emissions. While infrastructure and incentives for modal shift both play key roles, we also must take action to cut emissions from Scotland’s public transport fleet.
Ros highlighted that while the Scottish Government has made commendable and ambitious commitments in this area, progress is in danger of falling behind these commitments, as illustrated in Transform’s Stuck in Traffic report, published in 2022.
In light of this, we now need to keep up the pressure to ensure that Scotland moves swiftly to a completely decarbonised public transport network.
To conclude the opening session, we were very pleased to be joined by Transport Scotland’s director of Bus, Accessibility and Active Travel, Bettina Sizeland, on the Scottish Government’s commitments to public transport: what has been achieved and what is next.
Political panel Q&A
We were delighted to be joined by a panel of local politicians to hear their thoughts on decarbonising public transport. Transform Director Colin Howden joined the panel alongside:
- Cllr Chris Ballance (Greens)
- Cllr Isabelle MacKenzie (Conservatives)
- Cllr Andrew MacKintosh (Labour)
- Emma Roddick MSP (SNP)
After brief speeches from each member, the panel took questions from the audience, which lead to informative and enlightening discussions on a variety of issues surrounding decarbonising Scotland’s public transport system.
Roundtables
Roundtable discussions were held to allow participants to delve a bit deeper into decarbonising strategies and challenges for specific modes of public transport.
Rail roundtable
For the rail roundtable discussion, it was our pleasure to welcome presentations from:
- Catherine Hall, Head of Strategic Planning, Katie Vollbracht, Principal Programme Sponsor & Ewan Tait, Business Development Executive at Scotland’s Railway
- Frank Roach, Partnership Manager at HITRANS
The speakers from Scotland’s Railway discussed the Government’s Decarbonisation Action Plan (DAP) for Scotland’s railways (published 2020) which sets out how the rail network can end its reliance on diesel. Alongside this, the industry speakers highlighted the key role of modal shifting in cutting emissions and how this can be accelerated with improved travel data and accessibility measures.
Frank Roach of HITRANS spoke from a rural perspective about rail’s potential role in reducing emissions by encouraging people to travel by rail as opposed to car. He also noted the ability of rail to cut emissions from freight movements in Scotland and the possibilities of utilising green hydrogen in the near future.
Bus roundtable
The roundtable on decarbonising Scotland’s bus fleets heard from:
- Sara Collier, Public Affairs Manager at Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT)
- Dave Simpson, Engineering Director at Stagecoach North Scotland
- Neil MacCrae, Interim Transportation Manager at Moray Council
The speakers highlighted the need to decarbonise Scotland bus fleets in light of the fact that 80% of public transport journeys in Scotland are by bus. Sara spoke on the Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce‘s work to adopt a whole systems approach to the transition to net zero and provided an overview of the support provided by the Scottish Government such as the Network Support Grant and the SULEB and ScotZEB schemes.
Stagecoach highlighted their role in lowering the carbon footprint of Inverness with their all-electric bus network across the city. 17% of their Highland fleet are now electric – with help from the Scottish Government’s funding schemes (SULEB and ScotZEB). Having acknowledged their achievement, Dave advised that Stagecoach are monitoring the viability of Hydrogen buses as well as looking at reducing battery waste by optimising their charging procedures.
Neil MacCrae spoke on Moray Council’s Growth Deal project and ambitions to revolutionise buses in the region to boost patronage and cut transport emissions. As part of this, the council has launched their flexible demand responsive bus service: m.connect. Neil outlined the challenges of delivering this service and next steps as well as highlighting the benefits of this electric service for both communities and the environment.
Ferry roundtable
On the topic of decarbonising Scotland’s ferry fleet, we heard from:
- Kevin Hobbs, CEO at CMAL
- Neil Kermode, Managing Director at European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC)
Kevin discussed CMAL’s operations on the west and north coasts, covering 37 vessels and 26 ports. He stated that the mission to decarbonise is not straightforward and not cheap. He noted that there are 10 ferries in the fleet going out for tender in 2023 and these are to be 100% electric but emphasised that there are major concerns around getting power to the ports. Diesel-electric hybrids at least offer some back up for lifeline services. He added that alternative fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia and methanol are still in development stages and all have their own challenges.
Neil gave a presentation which discussed the prospects of utilising green hydrogen to ‘de-fossilise’ Scotland’s ferries. He made the case for liquid fuels. That is, synthetic hydrocarbons which combine hydrogen produced from renewable sources and carbon from the atmosphere (as opposed to fossil sources) as weight and space considerations limit the fuel types that ferries can adopt. Neil also argued for ferry design to play a role in cutting emissions – smaller, modern ferries are more efficient, use less energy and are easier to decarbonise.
The Q&A segment covered funding mechanisms, how the ferry decarbonisation project can help with reducing car kms, electricity reliability, and the potential of fixed links.
Closing session
Director Colin Howden closed the event with a round of thanks and a short presentation on the need to ensure that progress on the Government’s commitments to decarbonisation are met. He added that Government spending has a track record of being skewed towards high carbon transport, citing the disparity in funding for the Highland Main Line compared to the A9 dualling project. As financial pressures persist, we must ensure sustainable transport remains a priority.
What’s next?
We are inviting submissions to the Cross-Party Group on Sustainable Transport’s inquiry into the decarbonisation of public transport in Scotland. The deadline for submissions is 15 August 2023. Read more here.
We are also holding an online member networking session on 11 July. We are extending this invite to non-members who are interested in meeting others in the sustainable transport sector as a one off! Find out more here.
