It was a special evening in Glasgow last night as The Scottish Transport Awards returned for the first time since 2019, and the start of the pandemic.
Scottish Transport Minister, Jenny Gilruth MSP, gave the keynote address and welcomed a sell out audience of 400 transport industry professionals to the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow, to celebrate the people and organisations that make a real difference to transport across Scotland.
Ms Gilrtuth said "It was a tremendous honour to open this evening's awards and pay tribute to some of the transport sector's unsung heroes.
Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners who keep Scotland moving and often go above and beyond in challenging conditions. They all deserve enormous credit for making a positive impact and delivering lasting behaviour change.
It was genuinely inspiring to meet some of the people behind those successes. I look forward to working with them and all of our transport partners in the months ahead as we strive towards delivering a modern transport network we can all be proud of."
McGills Bus Group scooped the coveted Public Transport Operator award. The bus group embarked on several innovative and exciting projects in 2021 with their key success being the delivery of 68 zero emission buses making them the largest operator of Zero Emission vehicles in Scotland. With their Xplore Dundee operation and the addition of 260 new team members they are driving towards customer's expectations. They estimate with their EV infrastructure, including new buses and smart-ticketing software this should remove over 60,00 tonnes of carbon in Glasgow and Dundee over the next 15 years.
It was also a big night for Scotland's Railway who picked up Excellence in Transport Design and Transport Project of the Year for the Redevelopment of Queen Street Station. This innovative and challenging project meets all Scottish Government's policy objectives as well as dealing with Glasgow City Council's mobility goals at the same time taking into account historic Listed Buildings in the surrounding area. One of the key challenges was having to carry out the redevelopment while the station was still in operation.
Aberdeen International Airport won Airport of the Year on the night. There is no doubting how challenging the past few years have been for the aviation industry, and despite losing 2million passengers compared to 2019 and 400 jobs during the pandemic, Aberdeen International Airport remained open to support critical lifeline services to the island communities for hospital flights. Of considerable note is the fact that Aberdeen is looking to the future and, consequently, is leading a consortium that includes 13 organisations to develop and trial what would be the UK's first national distribution network to use drones to transport essential medicines, blood, organs etc throughout Scotland.
The Most Innovative Transport Project of the Year sponsored by Avant West Coast Partnership went to Sustrans Scotland. The infrastructure project was led by St Paul's Youth Forum and they used the computer game Minecraft to empower children to input their imaginative design ideas for a new pedestrian plaza. The young urban design team developed a range of ideas and proposals within a very short period and are now part of the local consultation on next steps for the local Places for Everyone scheme.
First Glasgow picked up the Contribution to Sustainable Transport award – sponsored by Switch Mobility – for their electrification of the UK's biggest bus depot. First Bus set out an ambitious plan to electrify just under half of the fleet at their flagship Caledonia Depot in Glasgow. Already the UK's largest depot, the investment saw it transformed into the UK's largest electric fleet charging station, with the ability to charge over 150 vehicles at a time with the potential to grow that to over 350 vehicles in the future. This project is predicted to remove over 10,000 tonnes of Co2 per year.
Transport Scotland were awarded the highly contested Transport Team / Partnership of the Year award for delivery of the COP26 transport plan. The scale of this event was unprecedented in Scotland. The Plan was created in partnership with the Scottish Government, the UK Government, Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland, British Transport Police, City of Edinburgh Council, SEC, Traffic Scotland, Scotrail, SPT, First Group, Stagecoach, BEAR, AMEY and a variety of other partners and consultants.
To see the full list of winners and commendations please click here
The Scottish Transport Awards, organised by Transport Times Events, are supported by the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, Network Rail and The Rail Industry Association
The awards were judged by:
- Roy Brannen, Chair of the Judging Panel & Interim Director General for Net Zero, Scottish Government
- Dr George Hazel OBE, Director, George Hazel Consultancy
- Prof Iain Docherty, Dean, Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Stirling
- Daisy Narayanan MBE, Head of Placemaking and Mobility, The City of Edinburgh Council
- Bettina Sizeland, Director of Bus, Accessibility and Active Travel, Transport Scotland
