New £4 million funding announced for Edinburgh Trams and Glasgow subway
Transport Scotland has announced a £4 million funding boost for Edinburgh Trams and the Glasgow Subway to help deal with measures put in place as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The £4 million will be split between the two systems in the central belt and comes after a similar £9 million package announced in July expired at the end of September.
This support will be available until the end of this year.
Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said: “The Glasgow Subway and Edinburgh Trams continue to provide key connections within our two biggest cities.
“The services provide essential capacity and link with bus, rail and park and ride facilities.
“Over the six-month period from July we will now have provided up to £13 million of financial support to operators to enable services to continue.
“Any restrictions on these services could have placed unsustainable demands on other modes, especially bus, and so this funding will assist capacity across all public transport.”
The financial package was secured after talks between Transport Scotland, the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, which runs the Subway network, and Transport for
Edinburgh.
Mr Matheson thanked those working in the light rail sector during the pandemic. He added: “These services have allowed our key workers and others who needed to travel for
essential journeys to do so during very challenging circumstances.
“The Subway and trams will help our wider society and economy recover as we go through the next phases of this pandemic.
“We will continue to monitor the demand, capacity and costs of support across all transport modes.”