Scottish Association for Public Transport

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About Scottish Association for Public Transport

The Scottish Association for Public Transport campaigns for

  • An efficient world-class transport system for Scotland.
  • Sustainable public transport for rural and urban communities
  • City streets free from road traffic pollution and congestion
  • Co-ordinated train, bus and ferry services
  • High Speed Rail for Scottish InterCity and Anglo-Scottish routes
The need for a national organisation to oppose the rail closure proposals of the Beeching era, including the Far North and Kyle lines, led to formation of the Scottish Railway Development Association in 1962.  The first rail closure opposed by SRDA was the Crieff-Gleneagles line, but this regrettably closed in 1964. Fortunately the lines north and west of Inverness were saved.  This was due in large part to campaigns led by local activists and the SRDA, which became the Scottish Association for Public Transport (SAPT) in 1972.
 

The Scottish Association for Public Transport is campaigning nationally for a fully integrated zero-carbon public transport system, with rail forming the backbone of a co-ordinated network of trains and local buses. Given the long distances involved in travelling in parts of Scotland, limited electric road vehicle range and sparsity of charge points are likely to make car travel more problematical.  This will make it essential to provide communities with access to an effective public transport system.

Public transport costs the Scottish Government £2 billion every year. Buses and trains are essential for many people and for reducing car travel and emissions. But in the current financial climate, the Scottish Government is likely to seek short-term economies in operation. 

A new far-sighted public transport strategy is needed to reverse decline in local bus services and cut the high ScotRail subsidy. To reduce duplication and shortcomings in public transport, organisational changes may be needed to boost use and value for money. Comparing transport systems elsewhere has identified two issues that could be very relevant in Scotland:

  • Replacing high-cost suburban trains with Metro systems with control devolved to city regions. Many metro systems do not need revenue support and attract high levels of usage. (Compare Glasgow where suburban trains consume about 25% of the total cost of ScotRail)
  • Franchising local bus services to co-ordinate timetables, integrate ticketing and eliminate duplication, allowing revenue support to be concentrated on strategic route networks. 

To find out more details about SAPT’s comprehensive recommendations for a sustainable, integrated rail, bus and ferry system for Scotland please request details by emailing scottishtransport@hotmail.com .

See booklet below for info on first 50 years of campaigning – from 1962 to 2012.

See Policy statements for more detail

  • Rail Policy
  • Bus Policy
  • Ferry Policy

See Newsletters section for news updates from 2013 to 2024.

The Scottish Association for Public Transport Constitution is found here

50 Years of Scottish Transport Campaigns

Click to view or download

50 years of scottish transport campaigns

Office bearers and Committee

Click the photo to read the biography.

Stewart
Stevenson

President

Tom
Harris

Vice President

Lawrence
Marshall

Vice President

Dr Malcolm
Reed

Vice President

Tom
Hart

Vice President

Dr John
McCormick

Chair

Prof. David
Murray-Smith

Vice Chair & Strategy Officer

Neil
Wallace

Vice Chair

Robin
McGregor

Treasurer

Regional Representatives

Click the photo to read the biography.

David
Brown

Strathclyde

Stewart
Leighton

Strathclyde

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Paul
Tetlaw

Lothian

Graham
Atkins

Borders

David
Giles

Central & Tayside

vacant

Southwest

Ray
Flint

Fife

vacant

Nestrans

Dr John
Logie

Highlands & Islands

Rolf
Schmidt

Highlands & Islands

vacant

Shetland

Ann Glen (Small)

Dr Ann
Glen MBE

Elected Member

SAPT are members of Transform Scotland

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Stewart Stevenson

President

Stewart has a modest degree in Mathematics from Aberdeen University. This led to 30 years at Bank of Scotland in various computer-related roles and finally retirement in 1999 as Director of Technology Innovation.

Then a few years lecturing on project management to post-graduate students at Heriot-Watt University preceded serving in the Scottish Parliament for 20 years. Always an enthusiastic user of public transport, in 2007, Stewart was appointed as Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change. He holds a private pilot’s licence, gained in 1990, with various additional ratings, but no longer flies. He has walked approaching 11,000 miles in the last eight years, now at a rate higher than his car mileage, and is close to completing an MSc in genealogy at Strathclyde University.

He is Editor of the Scottish Genealogist, a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Society for the Arts and also of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries. Arts in this context is the “useful” arts, now known as science.

Lawrence Marshall

Vice President

Lawrence’s first full-time job was as a bus conductor with Eastern Scottish in Edinburgh. He then moved to the railway – where he worked for almost 42 years in various roles: freight guard, cleaner, passenger guard, passenger driver and gateline staff. During his time as a freight guard based at Millerhill he saw how unused the capital’s south suburban line was in a city increasingly suffering from road congestion. He helped to form the Capital Rail Action Group in the late 1980s in part to bring about this line’s re-use for passenger transport but also as part of a wider improvement in public and active transport provision in the Edinburgh travel to work area.

He served as a local councillor for the Portobello area from 1994 to 2007 – with main roles in planning and, latterly, as the chair of the Forth Estuary Transport Authority. He was also a member of the joint committee which submitted the bill to the Scottish Parliament to build the Borders Railway – as well as being a member of the Waverley Route Trust. He also served on the Council of the Cockburn Association (see A Train-driving Trustee – The Cockburn Association) as well as a director of Transform Scotland – and currently is a committee member of Railfuture Scotland. He’s also a member of the Campaign for Borders Rail and the Light Rail Transit Association. He believes rail – heavy and light – has a key role to play in building a sustainable, accessible, affordable, integrated, environmentally friendly and economically productive transport network across the country and that SAPT has been and will be a key third sector player in its development.

Tom Hart

Vice President

Tom Hart was a lecturer in Economic History at Glasgow University, with a particular interest in transport.

He has served in a number of transport voluntary organisations including as a director of Transform Scotland until 2011 and as an appointed member of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport from 2006 until 2016.

Dr John McCormick

Chair

John studied natural philosophy at Glasgow University, including postgraduate research in
particle physics, with a period at CERN in Geneva.

He spent most of his subsequent career in IT management, latterly as IT Manager at Weir Group Management Systems. Experience of using the Swiss integrated public transport system during his time in Geneva convinced John that Scotland could benefit greatly from a similar approach.

John produces briefing documents and responds to consultations on transport policy, and advocated the Clyde Metro concept for a Light Rail network in the Glasgow City Region, now a Strategic Project being progressed by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

He represents SAPT on Transport Scotland’s High Speed Rail Group and was a director of Transform Scotland, the alliance for sustainable transport, from 2011 to 2016

Prof. David Murray-Smith

Vice-Chair and Strategy Officer

David studied engineering at the University of Aberdeen, and his first employment was with Ferranti Ltd. in Edinburgh, where he worked on navigation systems. He moved to the University of Glasgow, where he was appointed as a Lecturer in 1967 and became Professor of Engineering Systems and Control in 1986.

He continues to have strong research links with the University as an Emeritus Professor and Honorary Senior Research Fellow. He has been increasingly involved in transport-related research in recent years and has contributed to work on hydrogen fuel-cell and battery-electric hybrid powertrain systems for railway applications. Having spent sabbatical periods in Los Angeles and Vienna, where he had direct experience of cities with very different approaches (at those times) to public transport provision, he believes we can learn much from the approach taken to public transport in other small European countries.

He has given presentations at SAPT events and produced related reports for SAPT on several topics, including “Powering Future Public Transport in Scotland” and “A Review of Developments in Electrical Battery, Fuel Cell and Energy Recovery Systems for Railway Applications”. 

Neil Wallace

Vice Chair

Neil is currently an OSHCR registered Health and Safety Consultant and has worked on the design and construction of infrastructure projects as a Chartered Civil Engineer and as a Transportation professional.

As a life-long enthusiast for inter-professional networking, Neil has served as Chairman of branch committees for ICE, CIHT and IOSH, leading to terms as Council member for both CIHT and IOSH.

Neil has delivered presentations on various transport topics, including the Glasgow Underground Modernisation; Safety at Level Crossings; and the Rural Bus Dilemma.

Having used public transport in 5 continents, Neil is passionate about the key priorities for public transport to be accessible, affordable and available to meet the needs of local communities.

Robin McGregor

Treasurer

Robin lives in Glasgow and is a retired actuary. He worked in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and has over the years made considerable use of public transport. 

Robin fully recognises the value to the community of a high quality system and regards Scotland’s present transport system as falling some way behind several excellent examples found elsewhere in Europe. 

The SAPT is in his view well placed to advocate the improvements needed.

Paul Tetlaw

Lothian

Paul spent his full time career in the water industry in environmental protection and customer service.

After serving as a Pollution Prevention Officer in Yorkshire he moved to Scotland where he concluded his long service in the water industry as the General Manager for Key Customers with Scottish Water.

Following early retirement he has served on the committees of various organisations including the Cockburn Association, Capital Rail Action Group and the Scottish Association for Public Transport where he represents the Lothian area.

Throughout this time he has worked for Transform Scotland in a number of roles including Chair and is currently the Rail Policy Advisor.

These have all allowed him to pursue his interests in improving the public realm, public health and lifestyles in general by developing a more sustainable transport system.

Graham Atkins

Borders

As a former public transport planner and co-ordinator, latterly with the City of Edinburgh Council, Graham has over 38 years’ experience in the transport sector, and is passionate about and supports the aims of the SAPT.

Graham was an active member of the ScotRail Advisory Panel for six years and is currently Chair of the Borders Railway Community Partnership, which is active in promoting sustainable travel and encouraging business opportunities in the community.

David Giles

Minutes Secretary & Membership Secretary

David Giles has been an active member of the Scottish Association for Public Transport (SAPT) since returning to Scotland in 2015.

Prior to that, he worked in software development, project management and consultancy for large IT services companies. He has a degree in Computer Science from Edinburgh University and an MBA from the Open University.

Since retiring, and returning to Scotland, he has pursued long standing interests in transportation and walking. Besides his involvement in SAPT, he leads Health Walks for Active Stirling, has conducted pedestrian conditions assessments for Living Streets Scotland and is involved in the Slow Ways project. He also provides private tuition in Higher and Advanced Higher (and occasionally university level) mathematics!

Dr Ann Glen MBE

Elected Member

As a geographer and economic historian, Ann Glen has a long interest in rail transport. She joined the SAPT in 2005 when campaigning for the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link, that re-opened in 2009.

Ann served on the Rail Passengers’ Committee for Scotland. As a Community Councillor in North Lanarkshire., she is an advocate for active travel and well being, maintaining an interest in the South Airdrie Paths’ Network and seeking its improvement.

Ann is the author of several books charting developments in the Scottish railway system – ‘The Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link’ (2010), was followed by the Forth Bridge refurbishment, with Balfour Beatty and Network Rail, (2012).  ‘Waverley, A Novel Railway Station’ (2013) led to ‘The Waverley Route, Its Heritage and Revival’ (2015) for the Borders Railway. ‘Transforming the Railways of Central Scotland (2018) covered both history and EGIP  electrification. ‘Glasgow Queen Street, a Railway Station Renaissance’ was published in 2020.

Although Ann is a contributor to ‘Modern Railways’, she is also a supporter of Scottish heritage lines and of railway architecture. She is a member of the Railway Heritage Trust and has led initiatives to celebrate historic railway openings, notably in the Highlands, and assisted the return of steam locomotive-hauled trains on its scenic routes.