Cabinet Secretary comments on transport statistics

Commenting on the publication of the annual Transport and Travel in Scotland statistics, which summarise transport findings from the Scottish Household Survey, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Michael Matheson said:

“The Scottish Government is fully committed to delivering a sustainable, accessible and fairer transport system as outlined in our draft National Transport Strategy which identified the challenges and sets our vision for the future. We are taking forward a range of actions to help address the Global Climate Emergency and some of the trends highlighted in these statistics.

“We are investing more than £1 billion in public and sustainable transport each year, the number of rail journeys continues to increase and last week’s Programme for Government included a commitment of more than £500 million for bus priority measures which will reduce the impacts of congestion on bus services and encourage more people to make sustainable multi-modal journeys. Almost two thirds of passengers are very or fairly satisfied with public transport services but we recognise that there is more work to be done by our delivery partners to help address a decline in this area over the last few years.

“Walking, cycling and shared transport options are key parts of our future vision and we expect to see user rates improve as new infrastructure comes online, making active travel a more attractive option than the car for shorter trips and as part of a public transport journey, encouraging modal shift and improving health and well-being in the process.

“The substantial increase in the number of households willing to consider buying an electric vehicle is welcome with the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles central to our Energy Strategy, our Climate Change Plan and our goal of making Scotland’s air quality the best in Europe.”