The Scottish Government has announced an investment of 20 million GBP as part of the new Bus Infrastructure Fund (BIF) in 2025-26.
The investment will support both the development and construction of a range of infrastructure projects across the country, including the implementation of bus lanes, bus priority signals, accessibility features an transport hubs.
Each improvement is aimed to shorten journey times, increase reliability and improve overall transport integration throughout the country.
The investment was announced by the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, during a visit to the Glasgow Operations Centre at Eastgate.
Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, said:I’m pleased that the Scottish Government has allocated £20 million through the new Bus Infrastructure Fund.
Time is everything. This is especially true if you are working or caring for others. Even if those buses are modern and electric, or even if those buses are run by local authorities or commercially run services – if it still takes longer to get to your destination than it does by car – the bus simply can’t compete when it comes to convenience.
That is precisely where the Bus Infrastructure Fund works to help. Speeding up bus journeys and making them more reliable is important in making bus services more attractive to more people. We’re also providing funding to improve the quality of bus infrastructure more generally, from the bus stops themselves and information at them, to interchanges making it easier to switch between bus and other ways of travelling. These are all areas, further to free bus travel and new bus powers for local authorities, where the Scottish Government is working to improve the entire bus offer.
As such, this investment will be transformative for bus users, helping to improve the attractiveness of bus services and bus patronage. This is vitally important, because we know that bus is one of the best ways to travel for our communities, our cities and our climate.
The BIF, which is allocated through a two-tier funding model, aims to support Local Authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships looking to work collaboratively with bus operators to devise and deliver infrastructure improvements to enhance the reliability, accessibility and overall prospect of bus travel.
Tier 1 funding is allocated based on the level of an area’s Transport Poverty, whilst Tier 2 is allocated to Local Authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships, working jointly with bus operators, on behalf of the voluntary Bus Partnerships that were undertaking work through the Bus Partnership Fund.
