Context

The May 2025 Programme for Government included a commitment to make it easier for people to make more sustainable everyday journeys by delivering projects through our 2025-26 sustainable travel programmes, including the new Bus Infrastructure Fund. This builds on the Scottish Government’s long-term vision, as set out in the Active Travel Framework, that ‘by 2030 Scotland’s communities will be shaped around people and place, enabling walking, wheeling, and cycling to be the most popular modes of travel for short, everyday journeys’.

Following a major change programme for Active Travel in recent years, a new tiered delivery model is now in place. The Active Travel Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) is the primary vehicle for the Scottish Government to fund active travel infrastructure and is directly managed by Transport Scotland. ATIF has a tiered delivery model comprising Tier 1, which provides directly to Local Authorities through their General Capital Grant, and Tier 2, which is open to applications from Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) and National Park Authorities (NPAs).