Ministerial Foreword

I am pleased to introduce the fourth Delivery Plan for the National Transport Strategy (NTS).

Through a challenging year, I have been impressed by, and am extremely grateful to, all of our partners across the breadth of the transport sector, who have stepped up, through considerable financial challenges, to ensure continued progress towards a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system.

Transport touches the everyday lives of the people of Scotland of all ages and at all times. The £4 billion transport budget for the 2025-26 financial year includes maintaining and running the current system, as well as providing new infrastructure, and is essential for almost all economic activity in one way or another. However, the impact of transport goes well beyond this. Not only is it essential for the economy, but it is crucial for wellbeing, in terms of social interaction, from visiting friends and family, to accessing leisure activities and health services.

Transport is an important foundation for achieving all of the First Minister’s priorities. As set out in our Programme for Government, published in September this year, we will strive to eradicate child poverty; grow our economy; tackle the climate emergency, and improve public services. The Scottish Government’s policy programme will focus on these four areas, which align strongly with the priorities of the NTS: reducing inequalities, taking climate action, delivering inclusive economic growth, and improving our health and wellbeing.

Transport plays a key role in addressing inequalities and ensuring a just transition to net zero, both in terms of socio-economic inequality and providing those who need it most with access to communities and labour markets. One way to reduce poverty and, in particular, child poverty, the single greatest priority for this Government, is through free bus travel for young people. 2.3 million people across Scotland can now travel free on any bus journey and young people, specifically, have now made over 176 million free journeys, opening doors to new opportunities. We will continue to work with local authorities to ensure as many children as possible can access their free bus entitlement, cutting travel costs and making sustainable travel a more attractive option.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to meeting our target of net zero emissions by 2045 and we are already halfway there. However, further reducing travel by the highest emitting modes, by car and by lorry, and shifting to less carbon-intensive modes, such as bus and train, will not be easy. Substantial investment and behaviour change will be required. We must provide alternative, lower carbon ways of travelling that command public and business confidence. To that end, we will provide over £2.6 billion to support public transport over the 2025-26 financial year.

To deliver economic growth and support high-value jobs, the ability to move around people, goods and services in a reliable way is crucial. We need resilient transport links. Our long-term plans for investment in Scotland’s transport network are set out in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2). Island communities will benefit from delivery of three of the six new major ferries currently under construction to provide services for Arran, Islay and the Little Minch. We are also progressing the procurement of seven new electric ferries through Phase 1 of the Small Vessels Replacement Programme.