Ministerial Foreword

Everyday, everything that we do is underpinned by transport. Going to work, getting to school, accessing public services, buying goods and services in-person and online: every aspect of our lives depends on our ability as a nation to move people, goods and services around Scotland and beyond. It is something that we take for granted – until of course, things go wrong either due to weather, accidents and technical issues. The focus on those disruptions is understandable, especially when that creates issues for us personally, but it can also mean that we ignore the positives, and simply, just how important transport is to us, socially and economically. This paper seeks to set out just how valuable transport is to us all on a range of levels, and how critical transport is to helping us achieve our social, economic and environmental ambitions as a nation.

Transport was a foundation of the Industrial Revolution and Scotland played a key role in enabling it, with inventions like the steam engine, tarmacadam and the two stroke engine, helping to create the means of getting raw materials to developing industry and final products to consumers. In the quarter millennium since, Scotland has delivered a range of iconic transport projects that are renowned globally, including the Forth Rail bridge, Glenfinnan Viaduct, the Caledonian Canal, the Queensferry Crossing. Transport in its many forms is embedded within Scotland’s history and culture, and has made a critical contribution to our nation’s economic and social growth. We should rightly be proud. 

That commitment to investment in national and local transport infrastructure has continued under this Scottish Government, bringing improvements to everyday travel and creating opportunities for people, businesses and communities all over Scotland. From my visits and engagement with communities, I am increasingly stuck by how local interventions can be what really improves lives and opportunities. One of the first things I did as Cabinet Secretary for Transport was attend the opening of the Levenmouth line and I was very pleased to learn about the ways in which that project was shaped by the people of the area in a way that met their needs across bus and active travel as well as rail. 

Transport is still rightly viewed as a crucial part of the economy and a key contributor to growth. We all use some form of transport in all our economic activity, be it using the train from West Lothian to Edinburgh for work or shopping, the bus from the suburbs of Aberdeen to visit friends and family, using a ferry or plane to attend a hospital appointment, a goods vehicles restocking our supermarkets or a bicycle to make food deliveries. But it is so much more than that. Scotland’s roads, paths, rails and ferries allow us all to do the important things that go beyond earning a living – to visit new places, interact with new people and to visit friends and family.

At the same time that it produces these economic and social benefits, transport presents both challenges and opportunities for the journey all of us must make towards our Net Zero vision. Scotland is world leading in terms of our ambitions and our geography and natural resources are a huge competitive advantage. Just like the way in which, in the 18^th century and the first industrial revolution, canals and railways enabled a shift away from an agricultural to an industrial society, in the 21^st century, sustainable, accessible and affordable transport will be vital to enabling the 4^th industrial revolution and to transforming how we keep Scotland moving. This paper sets how important transport is to achieving that.