As part of the Aberdeen Bus Alliance, Bus Users UK played host to the Scottish Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop to see first-hand the impact of new bus priority measures in the city.
The measures are part of a £500 million funding commitment for Scotland’s bus services through the Scottish Government’s Bus Partnership Fund.
According to Aberdeen City Council, over 600,000 bus passengers are already benefiting from the new measures through:
- Improved punctuality, with First Bus seeing a 3% improvement and reaching 95% of their services using the new bus priority measures operating on time
- More Stagecoach services running on time within the city centre, with an improvement to departures from Union Square Bus Station where many journeys to Aberdeenshire start and terminate. Services such as the popular 727 route to P&J Live and Aberdeen Airport, have also seen punctuality improve by up to 3% since the measures were introduced, to a high of over 95%
- A special 50% off ticket offer from First Bus to complement and support the priority measures and to encourage more people to use the bus and benefit from the improvements
- Future enhancements to services such as faster journey times and potential increases to service frequencies through data being gathered by both major operators on these measures
- By stopping buses being held up unnecessarily in city centre traffic, bus journey times will be quicker and more predictable. This will have a significant impact on the daily lives of bus commuters and thousands of bus passengers across the north east who make journeys into Aberdeen. With this increased efficiency, operators hope to enable additional services, improving overall service frequency and reliability.
Welcoming the measures, Bus Users UK Director for Scotland Greig Mackay said: “These new bus priority measures have not only benefited passengers that travel within Aberdeen, but also those who travel into Aberdeen from other parts of Scotland.
“This priority ensures that services are more reliable and therefore more attractive to use.â€