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Transport Scotland ( gd, Còmhdhail Alba) is the national
transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...
agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an
Executive Agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...
of the Scottish Government.


Organisation

Transport Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish government that conducts transport projects, manages ScotRail, and also maintain all roads in Scotland, except motorways


Directorates

The agency is made up of eight directorates:


Aviation, Maritime, Freight and Canals

Used for transport links to its remote and island communities. It is responsible for: * project delivery, operational performance and policy development * aviation, ferries and canals * maritime interest including ports, harbours, and freight * looking after Scottish ministers’ interests in
Glasgow Prestwick Airport Glasgow Prestwick Airport () is an international airport serving the west of Scotland, situated northeast of the town of Prestwick in South Ayrshire and southwest of Glasgow. It is the less busy of the two airports serving the western part of ...
,
David MacBrayne David MacBrayne is a limited company owned by the Scottish Government. Formed in 1851 as the private shipping company David Hutcheson & Co. with three partners, David Hutcheson, Alexander Hutcheson and David MacBrayne, it passed in 1878 to David ...
,
Caledonian Maritime Assets Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (usually shortened to CMAL or CMAssets; Stòras Mara Cailleannach Earr in Scottish Gaelic) owns the ferries, ports, harbours and infrastructure for the ferry services serving the west coast of Scotland, the Fir ...
,
Highlands and Islands Airports Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is a company based at Inverness Airport that owns and operates 11 airports in the Scottish Highlands, the Northern Isles and the Western Isles. It is a private limited company wholly owned by the S ...
, and
Scottish Canals Scottish Canals is the Scottish Government body responsible for managing the country's inland waterways. Formerly a division of British Waterways, it became a stand-alone executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government on 2 Ju ...


Bus, Accessibility & Active Travel

Responsible for the Scottish government's policy relating to bus, active travel, smart and integrated ticketing and accessible travel. Tasks include: * enabling local authorities, operators and delivery partners to improve sustainable, accessible local transport options and get the travelling public back on the buses * promoting walking, cycling and wheeling * operating the concessionary bus travel scheme for disabled, old and young people * working with operators to ensure all journeys on Scotland's bus, rail, ferry, subway and tram networks can be ticketed or paid for using smart technologies * supporting the Mobility and Access Committee and the Active Nation Commissioner in their work to provide independent advice to ministers


Finance and Corporate Services

Supports the operation and governance of Transport Scotland, including: * providing core services and advice in the Finance, Human Resources, Learning and Development, Information governance, IT, Facilities, Health and Safety, TS Secretariat and Communications areas * a leading role on a range of corporate governance functions including risk management, the operation of the Audit and Risk Committee and corporate reporting requirements


Low Carbon Economy

Responsible for creating the strategic framework to coordinate the decarbonisation of Scotland's transport system, including: * leading the Scottish Government's mission to remove the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032 * delivering strategically coordinated investment in the charging network that reduces the need for electricity network upgrades and supports wider energy and transport system benefits * promoting the uptake of ULEVs across public and private fleets while supporting wider sustainable transport outcomes * harnessing Scotland's world class research and innovation expertise to support the expansion of low carbon transport and supply chains * supporting sectors transition toward a low carbon transport system, including through skills development


Major Projects

Responsible for design, development, procurement and construction of major trunk road improvement projects across Scotland: * leading and advising on procurement and contract management matters for Transport Scotland * contributing to the ambition to become a Centre of Excellence for the delivery of major projects


Rail

Responsible for Scotland's rail policy and delivery, including: * managing the
ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise a ...
and
Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom, the other b ...
rail franchises * developing rail policy and strategic planning, also aligning it with wider social and economic policy * delivering major projects alongside industry partners * promoting and investing in the development of sustainable rail freight * managing economic regulation of the railways, and monitoring and advising on the affordability of the rail programme


Roads

Responsible for: * the safe operation and maintenance of the Scottish Trunk Road Network * roads policy * road safety, including oversight of progress towards national casualty reduction targets * Intelligent transport systems and lighting * resilience, winter maintenance and transport planning of major events * roads and bridges design standards * air quality and the environment, including
climate change adaptation Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.) InClimat ...
and asset management


Strategy & Analysis

Responsible for transport strategy and integration, transport futures, transport analysis and strategic transport planning, including: * developing the successor national transport strategy and setting transport investment priorities to support Scotland's economic strategy * analytical research and evaluation * transport appraisal and modelling * transport and land use planning * publishing national transport statistics to support evidence based policy * the Transport (Scotland) Bill * transport preparation for EU Exit * climate change policy and transport's contribution to the Scottish Government Climate Change plan (updated in December 2020). * transport policy integration * transport futures * transport governance including sponsorship of Regional Transport Partnerships, the Scottish Roadworks Commissioner, and transport components of city and regional growth deals.


Current strategic documents

A second National Transport Strategy for Scotland was published in February 2020. The vision for the next 20 years is underpinned by four priorities: reducing inequalities, taking climate action, helping deliver inclusive economic growth and improving health and wellbeing. There are three associated outcomes for each priority.


Traffic Scotland

Through the Traffic Scotland service, Transport Scotland provides a public service that aims to deliver safe and reliable trunk roads. The focus of Traffic Scotland is to minimise the effects of congestion, breakdowns and unforeseen events on the trunk road network. The Traffic Scotland service delivers traveller information for the Scottish Trunk Road network through a process of 'monitor, control and inform'. *Monitor: The Traffic Scotland service monitors the network using CCTV, roadside hardware, communication with the police, weather forecasts and major event management services. *Control: All information collected through the monitoring process is processed within the Traffic Scotland Control Centre. The Traffic Scotland Control Centre operates 24 hours a day to ensure that traffic and travel information disseminated as part of the Traffic Scotland service is accurate. *Inform: Traffic and travel information processed by the Traffic Scotland Control Centre is then disseminated via the Traffic Scotland service, including the Traffic Scotland website, the Traffic Customer Care Line, road side Variable Message Signs (VMS) and via the multiple Traffic Scotland data services available to public, corporate and media users. In November 2016 Traffic Scotland introduced a real-time service to allow drivers to track which roads had been gritted through the 'Trunk Road Gritter Tracker'.


Regional Transport Partnerships

The role of Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) is to strengthen the planning and delivery of regional transport developments. The first task of each RTP was to prepare a regional transport strategy. This is supported by a delivery plan where RTPs set out when and how projects and proposals would be delivered. Some RTPs are also responsible for the delivery of transport services. For example, the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport owns and operates the Glasgow subway and major bus stations across the west of Scotland. The seven RTPs are: * Shetland Transport Partnership ( ZetTrans) * Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (
HITRANS The Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS) is the statutory regional transport partnership for Na h-Eileanan Siar, Highland, Moray, Orkney Islands and Argyll and Bute (less the Helensburgh and Lomond area, which is covered by th ...
) * North-East of Scotland Transport Partnership ( NESTRANS) * Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (
Tactran The Tayside and Central Regional Transport Partnership (Tactran) is the statutory Regional Transport Partnership covering the Angus, Dundee City, Perth & Kinross and Stirling Council areas. Tactran was established as one of the Regional Tran ...
) * South-East of Scotland Transport Partnership (
SESTRAN The South-East Scotland Transport Partnership (branded SESTran) is a statutory regional transport partnership in Scotland. SESTran covers most of South East and Central Scotland, and includes the following Local Authorities: * Fife * East ...
) *
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is a regional transport partnership for the Strathclyde area of western Scotland. It is responsible for planning and coordinating regional transport, especially the public transport system in the are ...
(SPT) * South-West of Scotland Transport Partnership (
SWESTRANS SWestrans (The South West of Scotland Transport Partnership) is a group set up by Transport Scotland to determine and deliver better transport, both locally and nationally, and to act as a catalyst for regeneration of the region's economy. There ...
)


See also

*
Transport in Scotland The transport system in Scotland is generally well-developed. The Scottish Parliament has control over most elements of transport policy within Scotland, with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity holding portfolio r ...


References


External links

*
Traffic Scotland website
{{Scottish Executive Agencies 2006 establishments in Scotland Executive agencies of the Scottish Government Organisations based in Glasgow Road transport in Scotland Transport in Scotland Interested parties in planning in Scotland Road authorities Transport organisations based in the United Kingdom