Celebrating Scotland’s Community Transport Movement in Scotland’s Parliament

Community Transport Week 2025 kicked off early in Scotland this year with a special reception at the Scottish Parliament.

More than 50 guests representing Community Transport operators and their allies, funders and supporters gathered at the heart of Scotland’s democracy to celebrate Scotland’s Community Transport movement.

We were delighted to be joined at Holyrood on Tuesday 7 October by MSPs representing three different parts of Scotland and three different political parties – Graham Simpson MSP (our kind sponsor), Jim Fairlie MSP (the Scottish Government’s Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity) and Maggie Chapman MSP.

It was wonderful to hear from Graham, Jim and Maggie about what Community Transport means to them, including their own personal connections to services which help their own families or are based in their own constituencies.

Community Transport Week coincides with my work anniversary at CTA so, for me, it’s always a welcome opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come. Looking back at my first message to CTA members four years ago, I wrote that ‘one of my key priorities’ would be to ‘reach a broader audience of decision-makers’ and ‘better represent your views and needs at the highest levels’.

This reception was the latest step in that strategy, creating another opportunity for our movement and our members to share their stories, challenges and asks directly with elected representatives, which is also the central focus of CT Week 2025.

I hope that our members can see and feel the progress we’ve made together in getting Community Transport higher up the political and policy agenda. Building relationships with key decision-makers and policymakers is critical to building a secure future for our sector. Recently, it’s helped us to secure significant gains, like new funding for vehicles and reform of the Network Support Grant.

We’ve a fantastic story to tell of a thriving, growing movement. When I joined CTA back in October 2021, we had 166 members in Scotland. Since then, our membership has now surged to 209. Local transport is in the hands of more local people in more communities than ever before.

They are, of course, stepping up because of the unmet transport needs they see around them. We’re growing to ensure everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, has access to local transport which meets their needs. There are still too many people and places out there where transport is inaccessible, unaffordable or unavailable. Our recent pilot passenger survey found that 39% of Community Transport passengers would have been unable to travel without us.

But our movement is also growing because of the commitment, determination and vision of our members; all of the people on the frontline and at the grassroots who get community-owned buses and dial-a-ride and volunteer car schemes off the ground – and then keep them running against all of the odds.

So, thank you to all of our Scottish members – and all of their staff, volunteers and supporters – for all that you have done and all that you continue to do.

For all of the challenges and headwinds facing our sector, we still believe in the power in community, because we live it every day. Let’s look to the future with optimism and keep growing our movement!