20 June 2023
A Just Transition in transport
Draft Just Transition Outcomes for Transport:
- Jobs, Skills and Economic Opportunities,
- Communities and Places (particularly rural, remote and suburban),
- People and equity e.g. safe transport, addressing transport poverty, & active travel,
- Environment, Biodiversity and Adaptation e.g. air quality.
Discussion themes:
- Demand Management:
- Reducing inequalities through reducing car use,
- Facilitating viable alternatives to car use.
- Maximising Economic Opportunities:
- Capturing the opportunities from investment, trade and innovation,
- The skills and jobs in the transport transition.
- Monitoring and Evaluation
Policy context
A Transport Just Transition Plan (TJTP) will complement existing commitments and the vision defined in the National Transport Strategy 2 (NTS2) of a “sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system, helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors.” This vision is underpinned by four priorities: reducing inequalities, taking climate action, helping to deliver inclusive economic growth, and improving our health and wellbeing.
A TJTP will need to refer to Scottish Government’s 20% reduction in car kilometres route map and its four sustainable transport behaviours: reduce need to travel, living well locally, switching travel modes, combining car trips and car-sharing.
The Just Transition Commission suggested that the Scottish Government develop a set of principles that recognise that segments of the population with high transport carbon footprints would be expected to contribute a greater reduction in transport emissions as part of the transition to net zero.
Example issues
Rural, remote and island communities have fewer public transport options and are particularly vulnerable to climate-related disruption. At the same time, many of Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities are in cities, particularly in suburban areas, and often have long journeys either in length or in time to access employment opportunities. Car ownership and use reveals divides across incomes and equality groups. Affordability and taxation are issues. The energy used for international flights by the average adult in the top 10% of earners was more than that used across all transport modes by those in the lowest 10% of earners - the more income individuals have, the more energy they use on transport.
Key points for the public sector
The public sector in Scotland has a key role to play in signalling future demand to the transport sector. For example, our focus on public sector fleet decarbonisation has the potential to encourage private investment in refuelling/recharging infrastructure, while giving companies the confidence to invest in zero emission technologies.
Scottish transport legislation contains a suite of options for local authorities, including road user charging, workplace parking licensing, and pavement parking prohibitions. The Scottish Government will work with all local authorities to support equitable measures which discourage car use, while raising revenue for greater investment in public transport and active travel for a fairer and greener transport system.
As at June 2023 up to £26.47 million of bus priority funding has been awarded to 11 Partnerships covering 28 local authorities across Scotland through the Bus Partnership Fund.