Transport User Voice – January 2020 – What’s happening in Scotland?

20 December 2019

Rail franchise changes and more 

ScotRail franchise ends 

The Scottish Government has confirmed the Abellio ScotRail franchise will end in March 2022. 

Robert Samson, Senior Stakeholder Manager in Scotland for Transport Focus said: “Over the next two years passengers will expect a more punctual and reliable railway that improves passenger satisfaction as tracked by our National Rail Passenger Survey. 

“It is good to see the government seeking value for money on behalf of passengers, but any change must not result in disruption for them. 

“Passengers will judge the success of the any future changes to the structure of the railway on how far it meets their priorities for improvement: more punctual and reliable services, more chance of getting a seat and better value for money.” 

Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) Scotland 

At the recent CPT Scotland conference in St Andrews, we shared our bus insight work with an audience of Scotland’s bus operators, regional transport partnerships, government officials as well as bus manufacturers and technology businesses.  

This included: 

• results from our Scotland benchmarking tracker Bus Passenger Survey 2018 results exploring the relationship between delivering a punctual, value for money frequent bus service and passenger satisfaction 
• the top ten actions to benefit bus passengers based on our insight in the new Bus Service Improvements Partnerships proposed in the new Transport Act 
• how to encourage more people onto the bus based on our #GiveBusAGo campaign. Research indicates that around a fifth of car journeys could well be made by bus. Yet many people don’t view the bus as a transport mode of choice. We explained how we are working in partnership with bus operators and local authorities to identify the barriers to bus, to improve the passenger experience and share good practice with operators and local authorities across Scotland 

Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2) 

The STPR 2 process will inform transport investment in Scotland for the next 20 years. Regional Transport Working Groups (RTWGs) have been established across Scotland and we took part in regional workshops focusing on potential interventions and investment opportunities. 

The outcomes from STPR2 will: 

• help make Scotland more accessible for residents, visitors and businesses
• create better connectivity with sustainable, smart and cleaner transport options
• highlight the vital contribution that transport investment can play in enabling and sustaining Scotland’s economic growth. 
  

We have provided evidence based on our passenger priorities insight that details the hierarchy of improvements that passengers want to see. We will be pushing for the alignment of interventions and investment to meet those priorities. 

As part of STPR2, a survey is running until Friday 10 January 2020.  

It’s designed to gain the views of the Scottish public, organisations and businesses on strategic transport related problems and opportunities as well as potential investment options.

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