Highland Council receives £400,000 Scottish Government funding to create temporary Inverness bus-only routes
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Highland Council has received the first award from a Scottish Government fund to provide priority routes for buses.
The award of £442,855 will enable the creation of two temporary bus-only gateways aimed at making it easier for buses to travel, improving journey time and reliability.
A new bus gateway connecting Inverness Bus Station with Rose Street will remove up to eight buses per hour from Academy Street and reduce the potential for conflict with temporary Spaces for People measures there.
A new bus gateway is also planned from Raigmore Hospital to Raigmore Estate. providing a through route from Old Perth Road to eliminate delays due to congestion at peak times.
Combined with an existing bus-only gate on Millburn Road it could reduce bus journeys by up to 12 minutes.
Working in partnership with bus operators, landowners and NHS Highland, the council has now begun the process of designing the bus gateways, aiming for them to become operational within the next three months.
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Michael Matheson said: "It is important Transport Scotland has been able to support these bus priority measures, which come from close partnership working in the Highlands.
"Prioritising buses in these key areas brings benefits to the city centre and to people from rural areas travelling into the city, as well as improving access to the main hospital for the region.
"By providing this support for temporary bus priority infrastructure, we’re directly helping bus passengers who we know can have fewer alternative travel options – helping to improve journey times and reliability on congested routes.
"While these measures will help make bus journey times faster on pinch points, I would continue to ask people to walk, wheel or cycle where possible and plan ahead if using public transport to help manage demand.
"Let’s continue thinking about how and when we travel so that we can keep Scotland moving."
Chairwoman of the council's economy and infrastructure committee, Councillor Trish Robertson, said: "We are proud of this announcement and to be the first council in Scotland to be awarded this funding.
"It provides us with the opportunity to support people to use sustainable forms of transport in the city and region.
"The measures will incentivise bus trips ahead of private vehicles and will make a significant contribution to a healthy and vibrant city centre as we recover from the current pandemic."
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