Introduction

Performance Report

Chief Executive’s Foreword

Our annual report and accounts set out our structure, how we work, our financial performance and how we have performed against our organisation’s objectives during the 2023-24 financial year.

There have been some significant achievements over the reporting year which are contributing to improving the lives of the people of Scotland. For example, the Young Person’s Free Bus Travel Scheme is having a major impact in improving the lives of our young people, helping them access a wider range of opportunities. Over 130 million journeys had been made under the scheme by March 2024.

The Caledonian Sleeper moved into Public Ownership in June 2023 and has shown strong operational performance, improving guest satisfaction levels and revenue growth. Improvements to Scotland’s Railway have progressed including the East Kilbride enhancement project and Barrhead route electrification.

Air quality has been improved through the work on enforcement of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in Glasgow which commenced on 1 June 2023, with preparation for LEZ enforcement in Dundee, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh continuing throughout the year.

Major progress has been made on delivering the A9 Dualling Programme in December 2023; a delivery plan for the completion of the programme was announced by Scottish Ministers in the Scottish Parliament. Procurement for the £184.7 million Tomatin to Moy section commenced in Autumn 2023 whilst investment continued for the safety, operation, and maintenance of A9 with over £30 million spent in the 2023‑24 financial year. This includes a package of improvements to the route and measures to encourage safer driving.

Our Events and Resilience teams supported the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships in August 2023 which were staged at ten venues across Scotland and were the single biggest cycling event in history. There were eleven named storms in 2023-24 presenting a number of challenges across the transport sector. We provided rapid and robust responses to these impacts, particularly Storm Babet in October 2023; most notably in Angus, Argyll and Bute and Aberdeenshire.

We published the draft Islands Connectivity Plan in February 2024 including the Vessels and Ports Plan and in Spring 2024 the Fair Fares Review and bus task force report were published. These set out actions to make public transport more accessible, available, and affordable throughout Scotland.

In the year ahead we will continue to focus on the priorities of our National Transport Strategy, fulfilling transport’s important role in delivering the Government’s priorities to eradicate child poverty, drive economic growth, tackle the climate emergency, and improve public services.

Alison Irvine Interim
Chief Executive Transport Scotland

The story of 2023-24

Our highlights

Rail

The Caledonian Sleeper moved into Public Ownership in late June 2023, following the successful transition of ScotRail Trains the previous year.

The pilot project to remove peak fares commenced in October 2023 and was initially scheduled to run for six months to March 2024. It was extended twice, first for three months to June 2024 and then to September 2024. Findings from the pilot are due to be published in 2024‑25. The year also saw the successful opening of East Linton station on 13 December 2023 alongside continued progress on the East Kilbride enhancement project and Barrhead

route electrification. The Final Delivery Plan for Network Rail to achieve Scottish Ministers requirements in Control Period 7 from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2029 was agreed with ORR (the Office of Road and Rail). The delivery plan sets out planned activities, outputs, and expenditure of operating, maintaining, and renewing the railway infrastructure over the next five years.

Ferries

Funding was provided for the operation of essential Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles ferry services to support island communities and continuing major investment in ports and vessels.

Key milestones were met in the construction of the four new vessels for Islay and Little Minch routes, including the launch of MV Isle of Islay.

We progressed and completed port improvements to maintain and enhance existing ports and accommodate the new vessels for Islay and Little Minch, including opening of Lochmaddy, and the start of works at Port Askaig, Kennacraig and Colonsay.

Motorways and Trunk Roads

Short-term improvement measures at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful were completed in year while we progressed the design and assessment of the permanent solution to landslip risks. Construction of Phase 1 of the medium-term improvements to bring increased resilience to the route commenced and are currently ongoing.

Commitment to dualling the A9 from Perth to Inverness was reaffirmed in December 2023 and the delivery plan for its completion published. The procurement process for the construction of the section between Tomatin and Moy was undertaken throughout the year, with the contract awarded in July 2024.

We provided rapid and robust responses to the impact on transport infrastructure from several named storms, in particular Storm Babet in October 2023.

Transport Scotland was a key partner in the delivery of UCI Cycling World Championships, the multi-event championships, which showcased Scotland on a world stage and was a huge success.

Low Carbon Economy

In 2023-24 our electric vehicle grant activities and loan schemes delivered 1,196 domestic, rural, and factored development charge point grants and funded 1,148 electric vehicles (EV) as well as supporting EV’s for community groups. This included vehicles funded through the Low Carbon Transport Loan, which this year approved 1,086 loans for funding, to the value of £24.8 million. Since the fund launched in 2011, we have funded over 7,800 vehicles, representing a value over 150,000 tCO2e saved. Our projected emissions savings for this financial year are 35,261 tCO2e.

We supported delivery of the transition to zero‑emission technologies in the bus market through the ScotZEB 2 fund. The fund ScotZEB 2 is designed to drive necessary change in the market, by building collaboration among operators, financiers, and the supply chain into consortia to decarbonise buses and coaches at scale, as rapidly as possible and remove the need for ongoing government subsidy. Scotzeb 2 aims to create new ways of working which can maintain a vibrant and dynamic bus sector, and build new, sustainable jobs in a decarbonised, wellbeing economy. This fund awarded funds totalling £43 million in-year with project implementation to follow in 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The Switched On Fleets grant supports the decarbonisation of public sector fleets. Through this programme, 12 local authorities and 6 public bodies received funding in 2023‑24, including NHS boards and the Scottish Ambulance service. Funding supported the installation of EV charging infrastructure.

We supported senior leaders from Scotland’s HGV industry to develop a set of actions to help the sector transition to net zero. The HGV Decarbonisation Pathway is the result of 18 months of work by the Zero-Emission Truck Taskforce, whose members come from the haulage and logistics sector; energy sector (both hydrogen and electricity); truck manufacturing; government; unions; and commercial financiers. The pathway which was published in March 2024 sets out the four key challenges posed by a move to zero-emission trucks, and how to address these.

We also supported the introduction of the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes in Scotland, alongside the parallel introduction of the Schemes in England and Wales – a significant measure to support the delivery of net zero for the automotive sector. The Schemes set an annual target for the percentage of new cars and vans sold to be zero emission, from 22% cars and 11% vans in 2024, to 80% cars and 70% vans by 2030.

Bus

We delivered over £353 million in concessionary reimbursement payments to 300 participating operators. This covered both the National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Older and Disabled Persons and the National Bus Travel Concessions Scheme for Young Persons.

We also delivered over £44 million in Network Support Grant payments. All of these are critical in supporting the continued effective operation of Scotland’s bus industry.

We published the summary bus taskforce report in April 2024. The Bus Taskforce was set up in 2022 to support this transition of the bus sector from the additional government support provided during the pandemic to a more sustainable future. This report summarises the findings of the bus taskforce sub groups on patronage growth, driver shortages and community engagement. A best practice guide on community engagement was published alongside the report.

The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board was established in November 2023. This board is responsible for advising Scottish Ministers on smart ticketing in Scotland and is one of the measures from the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. It will set forth its roadmap in 2024.

We launched the ferry concession scheme on the concession’s smartcard platform, moving from the previous paper format to bring the national bus and ferry concession services for Islands residents in Orkney and Shetland into one place, on their saltirecard (also known as the National Entitlement Card) in a first for concession services in the UK.

We commenced the project to implement the next generation Digital Travel Data Services, to improve journey planning services via Traveline Scotland and other third-party planning services.

Active Travel

220 Places for Everyone active travel projects were in progress throughout the year. 21 of these completed including major routes at South City Way (Glasgow) and Edinburgh East West Route.

25 National Cycle Network projects were delivered continuously through the year, with 9 completed and over 400 barriers removed to make the network more accessible, including Cullen Embankment and Gourock Station.

A number of projects that were supported by the Active Travel Transformation Fund completed during 2023-24. These included Picardy Place Public Realm by City of Edinburgh Council, A77 Active Travel Corridor Phase 2 by East Renfrewshire Council, Habost Phase 3 – active travel pedestrian pathway by Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar and A970 South Rd Roundabout Path by Shetland Islands Council.

300 schools across Scotland took part in the 15th Anniversary Big Walk and Wheel.

The ‘I Bike’ Schools Programme was delivered across nine local authority areas with over 52,000 pupils in attendance. Successful events were held in Perth & Kinross and Dumfries & Galloway Councils to coincide with the UCI Cycling World Championships – combined, these had over 300 participants. In addition, 300 schools across Scotland took part in the 15th Anniversary Big Walk and Wheel.

In addition, we supported Active Nation Fund projects through the year including school active travel hubs, ‘pop up’ Mobility Hubs that focus on bike share, a national walking campaign, e-bike trials with employers, work aimed at children and young people, and community access to bikes.

Through Smarter Choices Smarter Places, we allocated £5 million in grants across thirty-two local authorities, and £5 million across over 100 public and third sector projects.

Transport Strategy and Analysis

In November 2023 we provided the first National Transport Strategy report to the Scottish Parliament as required by statute. This report provides an overview of the continued commitment to the Strategy and as detailed in the publication of our annual Delivery Plans, the actions being taken by the Scottish Government to deliver the vision and priorities for transport.

We published the third annual Delivery Plan for Scotland’s National Transport Strategy in December 2023, which set out the key actions taken by the Scottish Government to deliver the Strategy’s vision and priorities for 2023 and 2024.

The Transport Just Transition discussion paper was published in June 2023 to support public engagement on how the transport sector should achieve net zero in a fair and just manner.

The Fair Fares Review, published in March 2024, sets out recommendations and actions to be undertaken to deliver on our vision for the future of public transport. These recommendations and actions will ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fares that supports the future long-term viability of a public transport system that is accessible, available, and affordable for people throughout Scotland.

In addition, we have continued to produce and publish key pieces of transport analysis. This has included the one year on evaluation of the young people’s concessionary travel scheme in December 2023, showing the impacts of the scheme to date; and Transport and Travel in Scotland in February 2024, which provided key statistical analysis and insights on travel behaviours following the Covid-19 pandemic.

In December 2023, Transport Scotland hosted a stakeholder event on women’s and girls’ safety on public transport, bringing together over 30 organisations to discuss with the Cabinet Secretary how to take forward recommendations from research on this produced earlier in the year.

We have continued to lead engagement with the UK Government on transport matters, including leading the process of obtaining legislative consent for the new UK legislation on automated vehicles.

Aviation

We have continued to work in close partnership with VisitScotland, Scottish Development International (SDI) and Scotland’s airports to grow international connectivity for business, tourism, and exports.

We welcomed the start of Delta Air Lines Atlanta route in 2023, operating alongside their established New York and Boston routes and WestJet’s decision to add a Calgary route in addition to their Toronto and Halifax routes.

We continued to engage with airlines at Routes events, promoting Scotland as a destination that can support new long haul routes connecting Scotland with key global markets, and progressing the Scottish Government’s ambition to help make Scotland at least as well connected as peer nations.

Case studies

Caledonian Sleeper Services Into Public Ownership

In March 2023, the then Minister for Transport announced that Caledonian Sleeper services would be brought into public ownership.

An experienced and committed project team in Transport Scotland worked with colleagues in Scottish Rail Holdings and Caledonian Sleeper to undertake the management of the work involved to successfully bring Caledonian Sleeper services into public ownership.

Bringing Caledonian Sleeper services into public ownership has enabled the following key benefits:

1. Operating under public sector control, our railway is fully integrated and truly accountable and will continue to deliver better and more efficient services for rail users, communities, the economy, business, and tourism.

2. Maximising the contribution that rail services can make to tackling climate change. While the numbers using the Caledonian Sleeper services are comparably low to other operators, the service offers a viable alternative to both aviation and private car journeys. This has the potential to shift such journeys onto the railway thus providing a positive contribution to tackling climate challenge.

3. Improving industry alignment and service integration, where possible, to increase effectiveness, reduce costs and place the rail industry on a sustainable financial footing.

4. Supporting an environment where the whole rail system can respond swiftly and effectively to proposals for rail reform.

Caledonian Sleeper guest numbers have now recovered beyond the levels experienced prior to the pandemic. It is now enjoying record levels of patronage, forward bookings, and revenue and guest satisfaction levels remain consistently above target. Caledonian Sleeper is successfully managing the transition from SERCO, with key appointments recruited to and secured to develop the business.

Project PRIME – Motorcycle Casualty Reduction Innovation

Motorcyclists account for only 2.2% of registered vehicles in Scotland but represent a disproportionately high number of killed or seriously injured casualties.

Project Perceptual Rider Information for Maximising Expertise and Enjoyment (PRIME) was the first ever large-scale trial of dedicated road markings for motorcyclists, addressing the specific problem of motorcycle casualties on Scotland’s roads and supporting interim targets in the Scottish Government Road Safety Framework to 2030.

From 2020 to 2022 innovative road markings and associated signs were installed on approach to demanding bends at 22 trial sites and two comparison sites on the trunk road network across the West Highlands of Scotland. The PRIMEs are intended to influence three aspects of rider behaviour; namely, lateral position, speed, and braking, all of which are associated with safe cornering.

The project is managed by a team which includes Transport Scotland, BEAR NW operating company and a leading academic in the field of human factors psychology. Each year the work included site-identification, design, applications for non-prescribed signs installation, research ethics applications, installations, road safety audits, the research road trials, data analyses and reporting, along with journal submissions and dissemination of key findings.

With 32,213 motorcycles analysed (the largest investigation of its kind), PRIMEs produced significant and sustained positive behavioural changes in speed, road position and braking, supporting Scotland’s ‘Road Safety Framework to 2030’ and the ‘Safe System’ approach to road safety.

In 2023 the project received recognition at a number of award ceremonies including the coveted Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.

Road Safety Improvements

In 2022, thirteen people sadly lost their lives on the A9 between Perth and Inverness in eight separate collisions. This was a concerning increase from the one fatality recorded in each of the three preceding years. Urgent action was required, and in December 2022 a £5 million package of funding over a 27-month period was announced. It was to focus on two key areas: road safety engineering measures and public road safety campaigns.

Aware of the benefits of partnership working, Transport Scotland established a group comprising the Trunk Road Casualty Reduction Team, Network Maintenance, Road Safety Scotland, BEAR Scotland and Police Scotland with the remit of bringing their collective expertise to agree mitigations and solutions.

The engineering measures which commenced in January 2023 and will continue until April 2025 focus on:

• enhancing road markings on single carriageway sections with new centre and edge lines
• solar-powered illuminated road studs and surface markings that provide improved clarity of junction layout at night
• upgrading the transitions from dual to single carriageway
• doubling the number of signs and road markings, reaffirming ‘drive on the left’ on single carriageway sections
• deployment of eight mobile variable message signs at key locations on the route during the peak tourist season to reinforce key road safety and considerate driving messages

Alongside these engineering measures, Road Safety Scotland undertook two campaigns around fatigue and driving on the left, to improve road safety. These campaigns were shaped by data we collated and conversations with Police Scotland which highlighted these as factors in a number of collisions.