11.3mph: Scotland's Bus Speeds Enter Freefall

Scotland’s buses now average 11.3mph, a 25% plunge from 14.9mph two years ago. Congestion from surging vehicle numbers erodes service reliability. Riders like Edinburgh shop worker Nico Reverie pad travel times to avoid lateness.

The Number 38 route exemplifies the rot. This north-south artery links colleges, retail parks, and two hospitals, yet journey times ballooned over 20 years. Traffic volumes, cut speed limits, and cycle lanes drive the delays.

Operators slash frequencies to cope. Lothian Buses keeps vehicle numbers steady on the 38 by running fewer trips. Passengers such as Royal Infirmary stores worker Francis Boyle note gaps in coverage, especially for hospital shifts.

Peak congestion traps buses at 7.8mph in urban cores. CPT Scotland calculates that 13.2mph speeds would unlock 11.3 million extra journeys yearly. Operators would slash costs 38%, needing fewer drivers and buses.

Aberdeen bus gates prove the fix works. Journey times fell up to 18.8%, passenger numbers rose. Yet such measures remain outliers amid widespread gridlock.

Roadworks compound the chaos. Lothian Buses operations director Willie Hamilton flags their surge as the prime headache. Each jammed bus delays up to 129 people, amplifying single-car impacts.

Car ownership swells as cities expand. Public operators invest merely to stand still. Long-term bus ridership trends downward, feeding the congestion loop.

Transport Scotland pledges £20 million for 2025-26 bus upgrades. Funds target lanes, signals, and hubs to lure drivers onto buses. Speeds keep dropping regardless.

Devolved Transport Paralysis

Scotland mirrors England’s transit inertia. Glasgow tests AI at 20 junctions for bus priority, but national speeds halved in congested zones over decades. Cross-party devolved governments repeat the stall.

Twenty years ago, Edinburgh buses moved briskly. Policies layered congestion: lower limits for safety, cycle lanes for green goals, unchecked vehicles from migration and sprawl. Results bury public options.

Hospital and retail workers bear the brunt. Boyle reaches the Infirmary despite peaks, but others miss connections. Reliability fades, fares rise or routes vanish.

Operators tweak timetables and add buses to fight delays. Costs mount without relief. Passengers defect to cars, worsening jams.

This exposes institutional sclerosis. Local councils and Scottish ministers control roads yet prioritize silos over integration. Bus gates succeed where tried, but scale stalls.

Historical competence contrasts sharply. Pre-2000s, UK urban buses hit 15-20mph averages. Deregulation, net zero mandates, and fiscal squeezes now enforce crawl speeds.

Citizens pay via time and taxes. £20 million buys tweaks, not transformation. Riders endure, services erode.

Bus decline signals deeper mobility breakdown. Scotland funnels billions into rail and ferries while roads choke core networks. Ordinary workers lose hours yearly to policy-induced stagnation.

The truth lands hard: devolved governance delivers gridlock, not progress. Vehicles multiply, buses slow, and public trust in transport evaporates. Britain’s infrastructure yields to unmanaged growth, one delayed shift at a time.