Bus Partnership Fund Projects

Bus Partnership Fund

What is the Bus Partnership Fund?

The Bus Service Improvement Partnerships (BSIPs) are one of the provisions introduced by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. As the name suggests, they are intended to support improvements in bus services by partnership working between local authorities and bus operators. Highland Council, HITRANS and Bus Operators are currently working on the formation of a formal BSIP for Inner Moray Firth and Lochaber. A steering group meets every two weeks to discuss projects and related BSIP matters.

The intention is that Councils will invest in facilities (i.e. infrastructure such as bus lanes or traffic light priorities) and measures (i.e. initiatives, other than infrastructure, designed to promote bus use) and operators will develop their services, for example by higher frequencies or new, better buses.

To enable councils to invest in facilities, the Scottish Government introduced a Bus Partnership Fund, delivered by Transport Scotland of £500 million over 5 years.

We secured phase 1 funding of £2.9 million for 7 projects in the Inner Moray Firth & 3 projects in Lochaber. There is potential that a further £47million could be secured for further phases of specific projects subject to a gateway review by Transport Scotland.

The BPF consists of 10 projects some of which require further investigative work before proceeding (subject to a gateway review by Transport Scotland) to progress to design and construction phases through the use of Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG).

Inner Moray Firth Projects

1. Raigmore Bus Gate 
2. Barn Church Road Bus Priority
3. Rose Street Enforcement Camera
4. City Centre Traffic Light Priority 
5. Connecting Inverness (STAG Appraisal)
6. B9006 Bus Priority (STAG Appraisal) 
7. Millburn Corridor Bus Priority & Active Travel (STAG Appraisal)

Lochaber

1. Blar Mhor Bus Gate
2. Upper Achintore Bus Gate
3. Lochaber (STAG Appraisal)