Targeting Traffic

We’re exploring which traffic reduction options will be most effective in cutting climate emissions, tackling congestion and ensuring the way we pay for our roads is fair and equitable, whilst supporting communities and encouraging economic development.

Our focus is on ‘demand management’ measures which affect the cost and convenience of driving, including national road user pricing, parking levies and congestion charging. These measures will be essential to reduce traffic, but are often found to be the most controversial.

Working together, we’ll get a better understanding of the pros, cons and mitigations for different traffic demand management measures, leading to recommendations on a way forward for the Scottish Government’s traffic reduction plans.

Why traffic reduction?

Reducing traffic will benefit all of us – lower climate emissions, less congestion, healthier streets.

The Scottish Government has a target to reduce car km by 20% by 2030 as part of its legally binding climate change commitments. The Government’s ‘Route Map’ for meeting the 20% target recognises the need for measures to ‘discourage car use’ such as road user charging.

Although the shift to electric vehicles is helping to bring down climate emissions from transport, it’s not enough on its own to meet Scotland’s climate change targets. Furthermore based on current trends, the shift to electric is expected to lead to a further increase in traffic, with busier roads and slower journeys due to congestion. It will also rapidly deprive the UK Government of an essential source of revenue from fuel duty, unless replaced with an alternative such as road pricing.

Moving to a different pricing system would also give Scotland the opportunity to introduce a more equitable form of motoring taxation that reduces the burden on lower income households.

Our action and impact

Business engagement

We brought Scotland’s business community into the conversation about traffic demand management. By doing so, we’ve shown that there are policies available which both cut congestion and support economic growth, and that business leaders do want to help drive this change.

We commissioned new academic research from Edinburgh Napier University. For the first time, the research provides evidence of how Scottish businesses might be affected by five traffic demand management measures – Low Emission Zones (LEZs), workplace parking levies, congestion charging, national road user charging, and rural tourism measures.

We presented our findings at a Traffic Summit attended by Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth MSP and Scotland’s business leaders.

Get involved

If you’d like to find out more or be involved in our traffic reduction work, please contact the Programme Manager, Elspeth Wray, at elspeth.wray@transform.scot.