Transform Scotland

Our Projects

Here are a few examples of our recent work:

Why Fly?

We worked with East Coast to promote trains over planes for business travel in Britain. Our On Track for Business report showed how Scottish businesses benefit financially by switching from air to rail on the Edinburgh to London route. It was as presented at a Parliamentary reception with MSPs and garnered significant political interest.

In partnership with East Coast we published a website including a rail vs. air video animation. East Coast used evidence from our research in their marketing campaigns to increase passenger numbers.

Interchange

Transform Scotland is leading the way to create a network of active travel hubs around Scotland. Under our Interchange project we audited facilities for cyclists at 19 Scottish train stations, bus stations and ferry terminals. We highlighted good practice where cyclists and pedestrians are provided with routes, repairs, parking and other amenities. We showed where improvements could be made to ensure consistent high standards for cyclists using public transport. The findings of Interchange generated positive press and TV coverage and are being used to advocate for new Scottish active travel hubs. We ran Interchange in partnership with Sustrans Scotland and the involvement of transport operators including ScotRail.

Developing Car Clubs in Scotland

Transform Scotland pioneered the way for expanding urban and rural car clubs to all parts of the country. We co-hosted a car club conference with The City of Edinburgh Council and through research showed the potential for Getting to 25,000 Car Club members by 2015 in Scotland. As a result the Scottish Government invested significant new funding to establish car clubs in rural Scotland.

Transport Monitoring

Our annual reports on the performance of Scottish society towards delivering sustainable transport have received extensive media coverage, generated debate in government and caught the attention of Paul Wheelhouse MSP, Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

We have defined a set of Scottish sustainable transport indicators, highlighted the Warning Signs in the overall progress of Scotland towards sustainable transport and examined whether public bodies are Doing their Duty to cut CO2 emissions from transport. Our work has persuaded the Government to take action to improve monitoring and evaluation of progress towards sustainable transport.

The Value of Cycle Tourism

Sustrans Scotland commissioned us to fully investigate and cost The Value of Cycle Tourism to the Scottish economy. Our research showed that cycling plays an important role in promoting Scotland as a visitor destination. We highlighted business opportunities for investment and expansion of the sector. Our research findings have been used by cycling and tourism organisations to provide evidence and make the case for investment and support for leisure cycling in Scotland.

Trams Back on Track

Transform Scotland played a key role in Edinburgh’s trams from inception to successful launch. In 2001, together with Passenger Focus, we organised the first ever international conference in Scotland on trams and two years later the Scottish Executive announced funding for the trams in Edinburgh. We submitted evidence papers to the Scottish Parliament, prepared briefing papers for MSPs and Councillors and bought business, retail, education, heritage, health, environment and transport organisations together in support of the project.

Railways Mean Business

We were commissioned by Virgin Trains to analyse the key benefits that rail provides to business travellers over air travel, and where service improvements could make rail even more competitive. As a result of our work Virgin implemented measures to improve services and facilities and changed the way they communicate business benefits to customers to show that The Railways Mean Business.

Inter-City Express Campaign

Our Inter-City Express campaign calls for a rail revolution, bringing all seven of Scotland’s cities closer together with a modern, fast and efficient rail network. We have generated widespread media coverage on the BBC, STV and all the major Scottish newspapers. Our campaign was discussed in First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament, and a parliamentary motion lodged in support of our campaign received cross-party backing.