Bus Priority Rapid Deployment Fund (BPRDF)
About this good practice
The Scottish Government provided £10 million to support the rapid deployment of bus priority infrastructure by local authorities across Scotland.
Working in partnership with bus operators, the new infrastructure fund will help areas of Scotland with the highest concentration of congestion to implement temporary measures, including bus lanes or gates, which make bus journeys quicker and more reliable for passengers. In turn, this will improve the attractiveness of bus travel by incentivising bus trips ahead of private vehicle journeys. In conjunction with similar active travel measures, it will also help to protect air quality in our city centres.
The measures aimed to encourage and incentivise bus travel as an attractive, sustainable mode of transport as lockdown restrictions were lifted over the course of 2021, and traffic began to return to previous levels.
The package of interventions was developed by the South East of Scotland Transport Transition Group, which involved Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Fife, Scottish Borders, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire Councils, as well as Transport Scotland and SEStran.
The Scottish Government implemented this step to provide immediate relief to some of the most congested bus routes as we progress forward in the Scottish Government’s route map through the COVID-19 crisis.
Resources needed
The Scottish Government provided £1.2M to support the rapid deployment of bus priority infrastructure by local authorities across South East of Scotland, for emergency measures to prioritise public transport and improve bus journey times and reliability on some of the region’s most congested routes.
Evidence of success
Local Authorities in the South East region were awarded a total of £1.2m for emergency measures to prioritise public transport and improve bus journey times and reliability. Working with bus operators and SEStran to develop measures. It is estimated that journey times are down by up to 12 minutes in some areas
Journey time reductions at 12 Locations
6km of new Bus Lanes
New traffic signals at a Park & Ride site
Yellow lines on approach to busy junctions
Enhanced bus stops at key locations.
Potential for learning or transfer
The involvement of bus operators to identify what measures were required to improve bus journey times, as well as to monitor the time saved on key routes, was essential to establishing the success of the funding in the South East of Scotland. This has helped improve bus journey times and reduce the risk of virus transmission whilst using public transport. The types of measures that were implemented, such as bus lanes, signalling improvements, and enhanced bus stops, could be implemented in other countries and regions, in order to speed up bus journey times, particularly on the more congested routes around urbanised areas.
Further information
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