Transport Tracker

We report on the Scottish Government’s progress in meeting its sustainable transport commitments – from decarbonising the railways to investment in walking, wheeling and cycling.

Read the latest report

OFF TRACK

SLOW PROGRESS

GOOD PROGRESS

Sustainable transport is more than a matter of climate necessity.

Sustainable transport is a powerful tool to tackle poverty, boost public health, and enhance daily life through better access to active travel and public transport.

With the climate crisis, cost-of-living pressures, and rising inequality, it’s more important than ever for the Scottish Government to deliver on its transport commitments.

The Scottish Government’s commitments

To ensure the Government remains accountable, we’ve scrutinised progress on ten transport pldges that have been announced in the past 5 years.

In our most recent report ‘In Reverse‘, we found that the Scottish Government is failing on 7 out of 10 of its commitments to sustainable transport.

Review the status of each of the Government’s promises – from boosting active travel investment to improving bus priority to cutting traffic – in our tracker below.

For detailed commentary on each commitment, head to the full report.

Good progress

and/or target met

Under-22s free bus travel

Commitment: “provide nationwide free bus travel for Scotland’s young people aged under 22 from 31st January 2022”

Progress: Since January 2022, the Free Bus Travel Scheme has enabled over 137 million bus journeys for Scots aged 5-21.

Low-emission ferries

Commitment: “ensure that 30% of state owned ferries are low emission by 2032”

Progress: This target is on track with the share of low-emission ferries is expected to rise to 30% by 2030.

Phase out ICE vehicles

Commitment: “creating conditions to phase out the need for all new petrol and diesel vehicles in Scotland’s public sector fleet by 2030”

Progress: The phase-out of ICE cars is on track. Although, low emission vans lag at 3.8% of new registrations.

Slow progress

and/or poor performance

Fair Fares Review

Commitment: “commission a Fair Fares Review to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to transport fares”

Progress: Published in March 2024 after a 2.5 year gestation period the Fair Fares Review lacks detailed plans for improving public transport affordability and delays action to future reviews.

Off track

and/or target has been missed

Increase the active travel budget

Commitment: “ensure that at least £320 million or 10% of the total transport budget goes on active travel by 2024‑25”

Progress: The Scottish Government has completely missed this commitment, with a £100 million shortfall announced with the Scottish Budget in December 2023.

Bus priority investment

Commitment: “invest over £500 million in improved bus priority infrastructure to tackle the impacts of congestion on bus services and raise bus usage”

Progress: Just 6% of the £500 million promised has been spent in three years of the Bus Partnership Fund. The Fund has been paused since January 2024 with no restart details.

Decarbonise rail services by 2035

Commitment: “reduce emissions from Scotland’s railways to zero by 2035”

Progress: Although 76% of passenger journeys are electrified, progress is slow, and the decarbonisation target may be extended beyond 2035 due to budget constraints.

Car traffic reduction

Commitment: “achieve a 20% reduction in car kilometres driven by 2030”

Progress: The Government admits car use reduction is off track, with an 11% increase in car traffic in the past year.

Bus priority on Glasgow motorways

Commitment: “beginning plans to reallocate road space on parts of the motorway network around Glasgow to high-occupancy vehicles such as buses”

Progress: No progress has been made in the five years since the pledge to improve bus priority on Glasgow motorways was made.

Decarbonise bus fleets

Commitment: “remove the majority of diesel buses from public transport by the end of 2023”

Progress: This target has been missed with over 70% of public buses still running on diesel.

READ the latest report

Ten years of reporting

Take a look at our past reports which scrutinise Scotland’s sustainable transport landscape, tracking progress from as early as 2012.

You can directly compare our latest 2024 report In Reverse with our previous two annual reports (2023’s Off Track and 2022’s Stuck in Traffic). Both review the Scottish Government’s progress on the same ten sustainable transport commitments.

Off Track

31 August 2023

Report which scrutinises the Scottish Government’s performance on its commitments to sustainable transport.

Download now

Stuck In Traffic

14 October 2022

Report analysing progress, or lack thereof, on Scottish Government Programme for Government commitments on transport made since the 2019 ‘Climate Emergency’ Programme for Government.

Download now