Focus of work
Transform Scotland is working with business groups to make sure Scotland meets its new 20% traffic reduction target.
In December 2020, the Scottish Government committed to reducing all road traffic mileage by 20% by 2030. This is a hugely welcome and long-overdue return to road traffic reduction as a headline national policy objective and represents a major policy switch; Government policy in recent years having been overwhelmingly focussed on promoting electric vehicles.
The aim of this project is to shape Scottish Government transport policy so that the ambitious 20% target is matched by equally ambitious action.
Building on areas of common ground with the business community, Transform Scotland is exploring which traffic reduction options will cut climate emissions, tackle congestion and ensure the way we pay for road use is fair and equitable, whilst supporting economic development. A key focus is establishing the acceptability of different options to business and other influential groups. This includes bold measures such as road pricing, car parking levies and other measures which affect the price of travel.
Impact
Transform Scotland has campaigned for traffic reduction measures for 20+ years. They were members of the Government panel which created the road pricing powers in the 2001 Transport Act, and successfully campaigned for workplace parking levy powers to be included in the 2019 Transport Act.
They have an equally long history of building alliances with business, for example: their ‘Inter-City Express’ rail campaign; initiating the ‘Glasgow Connectivity Commission’, which gained support from Glasgow Chamber of Commerce; and forming a cross-sector coalition in support of Edinburgh Trams.