Since the new section of the tramway opened, patronage has doubled in the months since its launch. In 2023, ET recorded 9.1 million customers.

Invested heavily in the latest ticketing technology, including upgrades to the ‘ET app’ that includes a range of products, such as discounted bundles of day tickets – proved popular for commuters working flexibly. The ‘Edinburgh Ticket’ sales website was relaunched ahead of the opening of the Newhaven line to offer visitors a series of multi-day options valid for transfer from the airport to the city centre and beyond.

Supported major sporting and cultural events in the city with extra trams and special ticket offers resulting in a number of patronage records broken over the past 12 months. Recorded its highest daily patronage figures over 2-night Harry Styles concert at Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium.

Nearly 20,000 trips were recorded overnight on New Year’s Eve with ET offering free, all-night services to help customers get home safely after celebrating in the city.

The new ‘Edinburgh Ticket’ sales website and mobile-optimised platform offer the full range of airport travel products; ticket transactions have more than doubled. With over 11,000 tickets purchased in August alone, the monthly average now stands at over 10,000 sales. Currently finalising plans with Lothian Buses to introduce ‘TapTapCap’ across the network during the first part of this year to allow customers to change between buses and trams seamlessly.

Patronage grew 11% in 2023 compared to 2022, and nearly 94 million passenger journeys were operated.

The ‘Free to Explore’ campaign aimed to raise awareness of free bus travel to Scots under 22. It featured a bespoke music video and murals painted in Glasgow and Aberdeen. Passengers grew by 2.67%, totalling 18.2% and 27.15% of all passengers in Glasgow and Aberdeen, respectively. Revenue grew by 5.5%, and card acquisition in local authority areas served by First Bus increased by 6%.

First Aberdeen introduced Tap On Tap Off payment technology in April and recorded over 1.2 million trips for 150,000 customers across the region in the first 10 months of operation. They marked 125 years of public transport in Aberdeen with a year of celebration featuring heritage livery bus, an Open Day with vintage vehicles from as far back as 1930, and partnerships with local businesses to offer ‘125 acts of kindness’ over the anniversary month.

First Glasgow noted a 16% increase in improved reliability and punctuality after utilising artificial intelligence planning software to incorporate data into new timetable updates that reflect real-life experience.

A wide range of leisure partnerships brought more new customers to bus travel. Aberdeen FC generated 11,078 journeys, which saw an average of 3.26% of all attendees use the travel offer. Fourteen percent of all redemptions were new customers, 30% of whom were retained and actively purchased a ticket.

First Group recently completed the electrification of flagship Glasgow Caledonia, Scotstoun, and Aberdeen depots. They added 74 new electric buses, totalling 249 zero-emission buses. The electric bus fleet prevents over 12,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. They announced the biggest EV charging partnership with Openreach by accessing their Glasgow and Aberdeen EV charging depots (alongside DPD and Police Scotland). Additionally, they announced that concessionary ticket users would no longer receive a receipt from February, helping save up to 220 minutes per day on some routes while reducing paper waste.

Customer numbers have reached over 90% of pre-COVID levels, and revenue has increased by 17.9% in the last year.

East Coast Buses connect the rural communities of Scotland’s east coast with Edinburgh city centre, offering express services during peak times. Due to passenger demand, four new routes were recently added to their network.

Edinburgh Bus Tours offer customers, many of whom are tourists in Edinburgh, a five-star customer experience rating (VisitScotland accredited). Improvements to engineering procedures delivered a 31% improvement in vehicle reliability against 2022 results.

In 2023, 450 drivers were trained with a pass rate of 94.6%, compared to the industry average of 61.5%. At the UK Bus Driver of the Year Finals, Lothian had two drivers in the first three finishers. They were awarded the Gold Employer Recognition Scheme Award from the MoD. Employee Survey results from 2023 highlighted that 85% of colleagues are proud to work for Lothian, 95% are clear about what is expected of them in their role, 95% have good relationships with the people they work with, 83% feel they can be themselves at work, and 81% feel their manager is supportive.

The fleet is among the most modern, environmentally friendly, and accessible in the UK. Fifty Volvo BZL fully electric double deckers were newly brought into service in 2024 with associated charging infrastructure thanks to a £24m investment.

McGill’s, previously crowned Public Transport Operator of the Year in 2022, was surpassed in 2023 by Edinburgh Trams.

There was a 17% growth in customers year on year.

Midland Bluebird replaced over 200 buses, recruited more than 60 new drivers, and revitalised the classic Midland Bluebird brand. Improvements in August 2023 doubled the frequency to 4 buses per hour on Falkirk and Grangemouth routes, while transformed buses debuted on interurban X36/X37 express routes linking Stirling and Falkirk with Glasgow, freshly rebranded as Swift.

Unilink relaunched a dedicated service to the University of Stirling, recording over 38% more customer journeys between September and November 2023 compared to the same period in the preceding year.

Flixbus invested £6m in a new fleet.

Loch Lomond Travel recently launched a new touring business.

Since introducing the Project Boost initiative, Xplore Dundee has experienced an 8% increase in footfall. They conducted three trials of new electric double-deck bus models supplied by Volvo, Wrightbus, and Yutong. Customer and colleague feedback is now being examined to inform vehicle choice. Eleven newer buses on three routes equipped to Euro VI standard have produced 96% less NOx pollutants than the vehicles they replaced.

The BrightBus Tours business in Edinburgh is thriving, with two routes running every 15 minutes. The New Airport Express between Edinburgh city centre and Edinburgh Airport was launched in January 2024, with fares 27% cheaper than bus competitors and 47% cheaper than trams. The first month saw a stronger performance than expected.

Continued investment in a predominantly zero-emission fleet, including delivering 56 new Yutong electric buses. 80% of bus mileage is now electric. McGill’s group claims to be one of the UK’s top three companies for fleet decarbonisation. Zero-emission buses have reached 8 million miles travelled.

McGill’s partnered with RNIB to deliver the ‘Swap With Me’ initiative among its drivers and collaborated with Poppy Scotland to roll out free travel for military personnel nationwide.

Sponsorship of the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, with more than £100,000 donated and support to local care homes and schools.

Passenger numbers have increased by 21% in the past year, carrying 6 million passengers.

The 902 service was launched between Glasgow, Livingston, Edinburgh Airport, and Edinburgh City, with Harthill Village, Uphall, and Broxburn Centre added to the route.

The 903 service was launched between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and it combined with the 23 service to bring direct links to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

HITRANS took over the running of the Service 23 between Springhill and Whitburn, providing connections for customers to join the 902, 900, or AIR services.

The AIR Service offers the only direct public transport link between Glasgow city centre and Edinburgh Airport. After new vehicle investment a few years ago, the route recorded a 29% increase in patronage in the past year.

The Saltire Cross network, linking the six Scottish cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen, and Inverness, introduced a half-hourly frequency on the Glasgow and Edinburgh to Aberdeen routes and a 15-minute frequency between Aberdeen and Dundee and Glasgow and Broxden. In the past year, patronage on the Saltire Cross increased by 17%.

The 900 service saw an 18% increase in patronage in the past 12 months.

New vehicles worth £2 million were introduced across three routes. Four new coaches were launched between Glasgow and Skye, and two new vehicles were introduced between Glasgow and Campbeltown through a partnership with West Coast Motors. A brand new coach was also launched on the Inverness Ullapool route, delivered by D&E Coaches. Sixteen new state-of-the-art Volvo 9700 deckers, worth around £7.2 million, were added to the Citylink network in February ’04.

Citylink introduced its first electric coach, with two more being added soon.

Citylink has forged successful links with several travel bloggers who use and promote its services through their social media channels. This helps the business reach new customers and further raise its brand profile. This has resulted in audience growth of 62% on Facebook and 36% on Instagram.

There has been a 5.3% increase in concessions in Aberdeenshire and a 12.88% increase in the Highlands. Due to the free bus travel promotion/initiative, the number of U22 passengers has increased by 40.7% in Aberdeenshire and by 61.31% in the Highlands.

In Inverness, free bus travel was provided to all passengers for a whole week, resulting in 32,673 passengers. This was approximately 7.6% up on the previous week, 9.4% up on the previous 4 weeks, and 27.4% on the yearly average.

Two new services were introduced. The “Gordon Highlander” service between Aberdeen and Inverness had an average of 2300+ passengers per week, reducing passenger journey time by around 1 hour. The “Aviemore Adventurer” service to Cairngorm Mountain, with bike storage, had an average of 1200 passengers per week.

To increase reliability £40 million was invested in a renewed fleet in the Highlands, including the Inverness Electric City Network.

In response to an industry-wide staffing problem, a new strategy was developed. Recruitment efforts were expanded, including digital, print, local radio, and face-to-face activities across the Highlands and Aberdeenshire. A direct email address for CVs was created to make the recruitment process more accessible. All training buses had a livery upgrade to include recruitment information. Mail drops were conducted in several areas across the Highlands to target more rural communities. Additionally, free gym/leisure offers were provided to staff.

All school contracts in the Highlands are now served using new buses, either Euro 6 diesel or fully electric. Schools in Aberdeen city are all served by electric vehicles (commercial).

The Glasgow Subway has achieved a 100% return to full patronage following the pandemic, making it the only transport operator in Scotland to see recovery. In 2023, the Glasgow Subway carried over 13 million passengers, marking the first time since 2019.

The busiest day for the Subway in 2023 occurred during the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow. The subway played a dual role, moving spectators around the race course between the city centre and west end, enabling residents to continue to travel around the city, bypassing road closures related to the event.

The Subway is completing the third major modernisation in its lifetime, with a fleet of new modern trains introduced in 2023/24. In December 2023, two of the 17 new trains entered service. Refurbishment of all 15 stations has been completed, making them brighter, lighter, more accessible, and easier to navigate.

In 2023, more than 4.2 million journeys were made using flexible PAYG on the smartcard, which also offers daily capped pricing at the cost of a return journey. This shows the flexibility needed to suit the flexible working landscape after the pandemic.

More than 170,000 Kids Went Free during the holiday periods. Travel among the U16 group was up 69.7% during the summer holidays in 2023 compared to the previous year.