Scotland pledges integrated ticketing across all public transport

An integrated ticketing system that can be used across all public transport is among a suite of Scottish government policies on transport.

The move is part of the government’s efforts towards addressing climate change. Responding to the Climate Change Committee 2023 progress report for Scotland which challenged the Scottish and UK governments to go further and faster in this area, actions proposed include helping people reduce their reliance on cars with a 20% fall in their use by 2030.

Net Zero Secretary, Màiri McAllan, confirmed the Scottish Government’s commitment to reach net-zero by 2045 and announced new legislation is to be brought forward to introduce multi-year ‘Carbon budgets’ replacing the current, annual targets. In light of the UK-wide Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) recent re-articulation that the 2030 target for emissions reduction is not achievable, this will no longer be a statutory target.

Scottish government says Scotland is already around halfway to net zero and has decarbonised faster than the UK average. In 2022, 87.9% of electricity generation was from zero or low carbon sources, nearly 63% of new woodlands in the UK were created in Scotland in 2022 -23 and more than two million Scots are now eligible for free bus travel.

Chris Ashley, RHA Policy Lead for Environment & Vehicles, said: “Today’s announcement from the Scottish Government demonstrates the need for collaboration and realism during the journey to Net Zero. We all want to reduce emissions and we are committed to investing in the environment, but it is imperative that any targets that are set are achievable and bring people along this journey.”