New fund supports smaller operators in Scotland’s bus decarbonisation

Scotland’s Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce, made up of leaders from the operating, manufacturing, energy, finance and public sectors, has published its pathway to a zero-carbon bus sector with the release of a new report that addresses the barriers to a swift roll-out of zero-emission buses.

Publication of the pathway report coincides with the Scottish Government launching a new £500,000 scheme to support delivery, focusing on supporting smaller operators and local authorities – including community and school transport providers.

To date, says the Scottish Government, most progress has been made by the largest public service bus operators, and now Scottish Ministers want to make sure smaller operators, and those delivering essential services such as home to school transport, are supported to make the change.

To support this, the Scottish Government has launched the £500,000 Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme, delivered through Energy Saving Trust. This funding will help small and medium sized bus operators, local authorities and community transport organisations assess their options for decarbonisation, and prepare collaborative and competitive business cases ahead of the next multi-million pound phase of ScotZEB – opening in spring 2023.

Smaller operators across Scotland are already supported through the £62 million ScotZEB allocation in February 2022. The additional funding through the Market Transition Scheme responds to reflections from Taskforce members on the continued ability of smaller operators to compete with larger operators and attract funding at scale.

In doing so, the Scottish Government says it is supporting a just transition to net zero as part of its Mission Zero for transport – ensuring small and medium sized organisations can benefit from the transition to a net zero economy.

Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth said, “I’m grateful to the members of the Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce who have co-designed this new pathway for a zero-emission bus fleet across Scotland. The report recognises the big achievements already made through our funding programmes, but also the barriers that various sectors need to overcome to deliver on our programme for Government commitment.

“For our part in the Scottish Government, I’m pleased to respond through the launch of our Market Transition Scheme. Our smaller operators have great ambitions to respond to the climate emergency and move to zero emission buses, but many simply don’t have the resources available to put in the considered and robust businesses cases that we rightly require for our ScotZEB programme.

“This £500,000 investment will help smaller operators be part of collaborative and competitive bids to the next phase of ScotZEB, opening in spring 2023.”