The Case for Change

The rationale for delivering transformational change in the delivery of active travel is rooted in the need to move away from a “business as usual” approach.  While local improvements have been made, evaluation of existing activity indicates that doing more of the same thing, in the same way, will not maximise outcomes, and to simply increase and expand the standard approach of grant funding programmes would not support achievement of Scotland’s climate change targets and would not achieve value for money. Pre-pandemic, more than half of all journeys made in Scotland were under 5km (with a significantly higher proportion in cities), but only 1.2% of journeys were made by bike, and 22% on foot. This is shown in the Active Travel Transformation Project Progress Report - December 2022.

Furthermore, active travel has the potential to transform people’s lives and their communities. By providing the opportunity for more people to travel by foot or cycle for school, work or leisure, improvements can be made to people’s mental and physical health, their financial well-being, the engagement and cohesion of their community through increased social contact, and the quality of their public spaces and local areas.

Greater levels of active travel can reduce local emissions and improve local air quality, further improving community health. Each day in Scotland, walking and cycling in Scotland’s cities takes up to 420,000 cars off the road. This is shown in the Cycling Framework and Delivery Plan for Active Travel - Social and Equality Impact Assessment (SEQIA). It can also substantially deliver for deprived and excluded communities and social groups, expanding accessibility and providing low cost transport options for these groups, as well as delivering decongestion benefits and road space reallocation in deprived areas that are often more highway dominated.

Increased active travel and enhanced infrastructure can also generate local economic benefits by increasing footfall for businesses, reduced risk of collisions and injuries on roads, reduced absenteeism, increased levels of productivity, and reduced pressure on physical and mental health services. Enhanced walking and cycling provision can also boost tourism: between 2013 and 2015, nearly 400,000 cycling trips and over 5m walking trips were made in Scotland, with an estimated associated spend of £1.9bn. This is shown in the Report Card: Active Travel Delivery Activity and Performance.

Most recently, the case for increasing investment in active travel is further underpinned by the latest Programme for Government 2023-24, which commits to taking forward implementation of the Active Travel Transformation Project to help realise our commitment to £320 million in active travel investment in future budgets. This is shown in Equality, Opportunity, Community - Our Programme for Government.