Our new report ‘Ideas for Investment‘ published today (Wed 27 November) brings together a range of transport experts to propose a comprehensive suite of innovative financial instruments and tax reforms which would raise revenue and stimulate investment in public transport.
As part of the report, we argue that the burden of taxation must be switched away from income and wealth creation and on to taxing pollution.
Ideas for Investment is being published a week ahead of the Scottish Government’s Budget and sets out a range of actions that it could take within its own devolved powers to generate revenue.
Transport must compete with other critical sectors, such as health and education, for limited public funds, and the report seeks to open up discussion on how revenue can be raised from within the transport sector itself.
Transform Scotland director Colin Howden said:
“Sustainable transport is not receiving the scale of investment necessary to consistently provide compelling alternatives to car use and flying. This comes at a time when the commercial viability of public transport services has been undermined and investment has dwindled due to the calamitous state of the nation’s finances.
“The recent UK Budget brought about large increases in bus and rail fares while doubling down on a Conservative tax cut on fuel duty. So our challenge to the Scottish Parliament is that it needs to stop penalising public transport users and, instead, ensure that transport modes contributing most to environmental damage—such as private cars and aviation—bear a fair share of the costs.
“Making polluters pay, not public transport users, is not just a matter of fairness—it’s also economically sensible. By shifting the tax burden away from income and wealth creation, and on to pollution and environmental harm, we can generate the funds required for a cleaner, more sustainable transport system that benefits everyone.”
In the current year’s Budget, the Scottish Government allocated £2.5 billion to public transport and £220 million to active travel. However, recent research has found that, in order to meet our climate targets, an additional £1.7 billion of public transport investment per year will be needed by 2035.
Investment in bus priority and active travel are already at risk given the Government’s decision to suspend its £500m bus fund and its failure to deliver on its promise to allocate £320 million to walking, wheeling and cycling by 2024/25.
Amongst other things, the report describes how Land Value Capture has been used to build a new railway in Northumberland, how new approaches to parking policy in Snowdonia have led to new bus services being started, and how in Iceland action is being taken now to implement road user charging for electric cars.
Find out more and read the report in full.
Dr Karen Barrass, the convenor of Transform’s policy forum, which led preparation of the report, said:
“Budgets are increasingly stretched and when times are hard it is easier for the status quo to endure. Yet we need innovation, we need to think outside the box and look to others for inspiration.
“That’s why we pooled our collective insight into this report. Our hope is that this policy portfolio will be seen as a valuable resource for policymakers, stakeholders, and advocates working towards Scotland’s sustainable transportation future.”
