Hansard

The Government is committed, as its main purpose, to creating a more successful country, with opportunities for everybody to flourish through increasing sustainable economic growth. I remind members that the subject of the debate is the Scottish green bus fund, as it is not immediately obvious from the Labour amendment, for example, that the debate is about that. The Scottish green bus fund is an integral part of how we will deliver the commitment to a sustainable economic future for Scotland.

Our public transport services play a vital role in enabling access to employment, training, public services, leisure, and friends and family. They produce less carbon, pollution and congestion per passenger mile than private cars do. That is reflected in our commitments in our climate change agenda to encourage a modal shift towards more sustainable and active modes of travel and to support lower-carbon and more fuel-efficient options within modes.

The bus sector plays a particularly key role. In 2010-11, buses ran 354 million kilometres on local services in Scotland. Buses deliver 438 million passenger journeys a year and 80 per cent of all passenger journeys made by public transport. They carry some 12 per cent of the population to work every day. For many communities, they are the principal or the only means of public transport.

Over the past few years, the Government has worked closely with the bus industry to support the introduction of more environmentally friendly, low-carbon vehicles into the Scottish bus fleet. The debate will consider the importance of that continuing work for transport, the environment and bus users. Last month, I announced a further round of the Scottish green bus fund worth £3 million and, last week, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth announced further funding of £2.5 million for hybrid buses in 2013-14 as part of his budget statement.

I will start by setting the context for bus transport in delivering our climate change agenda. Our environment is increasingly affected by the decisions that individuals make on a daily basis, transport being one of those decisions. Transport is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions by all transport, including freight, account for a quarter of all emissions in Scotland. Within that total, road transport accounts for 70 per cent. Bus transport produces 3 per cent of road emissions, but that figure is growing, partly because of increases in the weight of conventional diesel buses resulting from the equipment that is needed to ensure, rightly, that they are accessible to all passengers, and partly because of increasing improvements in the efficiency of other road transport modes, including cars and freight. Buses in urban areas also contribute to the particulate and other emissions that have a detrimental effect on the air quality in too many of our towns and cities.

As we see bus transport as an important and growing part of the transport mix, it is important that we take action to address those environmental impacts. That is why the Government has been incentivising the purchase and operation of low-carbon vehicles.

Part of our approach to doing that is the Scottish green bus fund, which has a number of potential benefits. It can reduce the direct impact of buses’ carbon and other emissions on the environment and newer vehicles improve the quality of service, encouraging modal shift from car to bus. It can increase demand for low-carbon vehicles, benefiting bus manufacturers and allowing them to develop and invest in technology and achieve economies of scale. That is an important point because, although the Government’s role is to incentivise the purchase of low-carbon vehicles, it is not the idea that we will continue to do that for ever more; we want to help the industry to move towards that and provide encouragement for operators.

The Scottish green bus fund can contribute over time to reductions in the overall cost of low-carbon vehicles, which will improve their commercial viability and encourage increasing investment by bus operators. In turn, that will create and sustain opportunities for Scottish businesses to develop expertise in innovation in bus manufacturing and operation.

So far, we have completed two rounds of the Scottish green bus fund. The first two rounds have already delivered 71 low-carbon hybrid vehicles to nine bus operators that provide services in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen. Last month, I announced a third round of £3 million, to run this year. As I said, last week, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth announced further funding for hybrid buses in 2013-14 of £2.5 million, which will bring Scottish Government funding for green buses over four years to £11.3 million, which I believe represents a continuing and sustained commitment to lower-carbon bus services.

What are the practical benefits that we are achieving as a result of those investments? We have reduced the direct environmental impact that is made by vehicles, as each new bus delivers an average reduction in CO2 of around 21 tonnes per year and 300 tonnes over its life cycle, which makes an important contribution to achieving our climate change targets. In parallel with reducing carbon use, those buses are also producing less exhaust gas, which helps to improve air quality. It is worth noting, in relation to the buses that we have funded in the Edinburgh area, that the initial estimate of a reduction in fuel consumption of around 40 per cent has been substantially exceeded; we are told by Lothian Buses that the reduction is around 60 per cent. Obviously, as well as using far less fuel, there are benefits to the environment and business benefits to the operators.

In some instances, the newer vehicles that are being supported are helping to encourage modal shift by delivering higher quality services that can encourage car drivers to go by bus rather than car.

An example of a successful operation, which has seen a growth in patronage, is the number 10 route that is run in Edinburgh by Lothian Buses. The operator took the opportunity of improving the overall specification of the vehicle and developed a specific marketing brand. That demonstrates that bus users respond to the provision of high quality green transport.

Central to the Government’s approach to climate change is a sense that tackling climate change is not just a moral and practical imperative, but an economic opportunity. Green buses are a case in point.

Scotland is fortunate in having in Alexander Dennis Ltd a world class bus manufacturer that has been successful in developing diesel and electric hybrid buses.

The green bus fund is competitive and market driven. Operators receiving grants make their own commercial decisions about who to place their orders with. It is therefore commendable that Alexander Dennis has enjoyed such considerable success in winning orders from the first two rounds of the green bus fund in competition with other manufacturers, which has helped the company to invest further in hybrid bus technology.