First Bus scores big win at Scottish Transport Awards 2025

The achievement, which First Bus were presented with at the Scottish Transport Awards in Glasgow, celebrates the performance of First Bus across Greater Glasgow and Aberdeen over the last year.
The award was open to Scottish bus, rail, tram and ferry operators.
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(Image: First Bus (Picture credit: Newsquest)) First Bus was recognised for its efforts to improve customer experience, reduce journey times and improve reliability.
Its investment in zero-emission buses and infrastructure was also commended as the operator continues its commitment to running a fully zero-emission fleet by 2035 with over 270 zero-emission buses in operation across Greater Glasgow and Aberdeen.
The operator also collected a second award on the night for Excellence in Technology and Innovation, receiving recognition for its use of AI-driven timetables to improve reliability for customers on its services across Scotland.
First Bus used the new timetables on over 60 services in the last 12 months to improve their performance, which led to several routes experiencing improvements in punctuality by over 30% as a result.
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Duncan Cameron, First Bus Scotland managing director, said: 'I am delighted First Bus has been recognised as Scotland's Public Transport Operator of the Year.
'We have worked extremely hard to make real, tangible changes to the overall customer experience while also doing everything in our power to ensure our services across Greater Glasgow and Aberdeen are more reliable for passengers.
'The award belongs to our thousands of colleagues across the country whose tireless efforts every day ensure we continue to deliver for our customers.'

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The Herald Scotland

42 minutes ago

• The Herald Scotland

They feel unloved. They're angry. And they have very big tractors

'What's the most valuable cup you've got in here, then?' I venture to ask him. 'What do you think it is?' he replies a little enigmatically. My eyes alight on a large gold cup that looks much grander and elegant than anything you'll see being handed out to winning football teams. He doesn't quite say 'you've chosen wisely,' but I know that's what he's thinking. 'How much do you think it's worth?' he asks me. 'Maybe 25 grand,' say I. He's shaking his head. 'Add a zero and bit more on top,' he says. 'You're joking,' say I. 'Nope: £320,000.' It's called the Paisley Perpetual Gold Challenge Cup and it will go to the beast of the tournament. There's also a lovely, unadorned gold cup that was gifted by HM Queen Elizabeth (God rest her wee soul). But it's the tractors and the combine harvesters I've mainly come here for. At an agricultural exhibition last year I'd noticed entire squadrons of these metal amazons lined up in military formation as though set for battle. I hadn't realised how big their tractors had become and resolved to attend this Royal Highland Show to see them close up. You could chib castles with these machines and I've always wanted to drive one. Charlie Webber is the High Horsepower Product Tractor Product Specialist for CNS, one of the UK's top tractor outfits. It more or less means he's responsible for the big chaps. 'What are these coming in at, Charlie?' We're standing beside a gorgeous big red tractor that comes with its own ladders to access the cockpit. 'That one's about £400k,' he says. If you fitted it with machine guns, there's not much that would stop it, I'm thinking. He tells me the market's 'steady' right now, though there are still post-Covid challenges. 'People who are re-investing in their equipment are finding it a little more challenging to get a return on what they're producing,' he says. 'With inflation, everything's got more expensive.' They're beasts of burden though, which pay for themselves after several years of hard labour in all weathers. They literally and figuratively drive a farm's economy: rock solid investment vehicles, if you like. I've still retained my childhood fascination for them, though and so has Mr Webber. When you see one of these as a child you thrill to them and it never really leaves you. Same with the combine harvesters, especially when you see them threshing the barley and oats and spitting it out their chimneys. The Morris family (Image: Newsquest) 'If you're born on a farm or near a farm, your earliest memory is when you're sat inside one as a child as it works the fields,' he says. 'They're built for next-level comfort too because at the height of the seasons you'll be doing 16-hour days.' Neil Redpath's family firm have been making tyres to the agricultural industry for 45 years and I'm asking him why the tractors are getting so big. 'Basically, there aren't people putting their bums on the seats,' he says. 'Once, you might have had four tractors, now you have two doing the work of four, so they have to be bigger. That tractor has to do so many more different jobs, when once you'd have a separate one to do the spraying. There are fewer people wanting to work the hours. 'Covid was a watershed, but it's been happening since before then. More than 80% of people who leave us do so because we work Saturday mornings, 8 until noon, even though we pay double time plus 37 quid for coming out on a Saturday. They tell us it interrupts their weekends, especially if they've been out late the night before.' I'm thinking the social life in Scotland's more remote places must be a bit more jaggy and jumpy than I'd previously thought. 'Our main challenge as a tyre firm is to get all that power into the ground without the tyre collapsing. These machines have grown in tonnage and we need to calculate exactly what pressure you need to carry that piece of equipment.' Read more Welcome to our book festival. It's diverse, inclusive but don't forget your pronouns Then I spot a lad called Harrison Morris whose T-shirt, I've decided, wins best in show. The wee man's a wheelchair-user and his shirt bears the legend: 'Everything hurts and I'm dying'. He's down from Shetland with his family, including his grandpa, Bill and mum, dad and sister: Steve, Louise and Neveah. Bill, a retired chef, has been coming here for many years. 'It's the best show in Scotland,' he says. The Royal Highland Show has been going for more than 200 years. It's one of those events you've heard about often and meant to visit, but never quite got round to. Plus, being full of farmers and country types, you might struggle to acclimatise. What hits you first is the scale of this event. This showground, beside Edinburgh Airport, becomes not a circus or a village but a small township. Today, there are easily more than 50,000 which will build to almost 200,000 when it finishes tomorrow. More than 1,000 retail and hospitality units provide the esoteric weft and warp of rural life: their hardy, utilitarian apparel; their no-messing-about food: the glamping-pods and wooden tents. It's not your world, but you fall into step with it. And then there's the accents and dialects: the whas, the yins, the kens and the whitaboots that a persistent Glaswegian needs to hear once in a while as a release from our pure glo'al mono-verse. You need also to be reminded that around 80% of Scotland's land-mass is put to agricultural production and that you're not living in an urban townscape, but in a rural realm with the odd concrete settlement here and there. More than 70,000 Scottish jobs are directly sustained by Scotland's rural economy and around 350,000 others are dependent on it. Agriculture is the third largest employer in rural Scotland behind the public sector and the service sector. And right now, it's a community that feels unloved and under-appreciated. They remain angry at last year's inheritance tax rises, which they feel represented a cheap early broadside by a feckless Labour administration to soften up its core supporters, knowing they'd be taking an axe to social the social welfare budget a few months later. The trophy room (Image: Newsquest) The farmers have feared cuts in their livestock numbers ever since the Scottish Greens began throwing their weight around at Holyrood. The Greens hate everything to do with farming: the machinery, the red meat and the greenhouse emissions from coos' arses. A rule of thumb operates in Scotland though: if the Greens are against you then you must be doing something right. The UK's National Climate Change Committee has been pushing for a reduction in livestock numbers leading to fears among meat farmers that lower quality American beef producers will exploit this under the new trade deal. In this setting, Keir Starmer is perceived as a weak leader eager to do anything to please an excitable American president. Scottish Secretary Ian Murray is making an appearance at the UK Government's tented enclosure so I join in a mini agricultural media huddle gathered around him. Glen Barclay of the Scottish Farmer (supporting farmers in Scotland since 1893, by the way) kindly suggests a question I might ask to make it look as though I'm fully conversant with these issues. Mr Murray seems to be enjoying himself and looks relaxed. He even extends me an invitation to join him later in a dram at a Scotch Whisky Society event, which I must refuse. He bats away all the questions rather easily with variations on the theme of 'The UK Government won't be altering its inheritance tax provisions for anyone, but we've had friendly discussions with the National Farmers Union to show that we're at least listening to them.' I can't keep away from those tractors, though and Charlie Webber hesitantly permits me to climb inside one. It's got a big bouncy seat and there's plenty of room for your sausage rolls and ginger. Gordon the photographer sees my guard is down and begins snapping away with his vulpine grin, but I'm not giving one single flying f***.

The National

an hour ago

• The National

Braemar Folk Festival sets line-up ahead of return

Returning for the fifth year, the Braemar Folk Festival is set to take place in and around the village of Braemar. Macpherson, who has been announced as first up on opening night, October 3, is the Radio 2 Folk Award and Trad Award Gaelic Singer of the Year. READ MORE: Scotland's largest private landowner proposes sauna plans for Loch Ness pub Following Macpherson is TRIP – a young trad group based in Glasgow. Their music combines traditions from Scotland, Ireland, Northumbria and the Isle of Man. Scottish trad and electronic group Valtos (below) will headline the second day of the event, with musician Cahalen Morrison supporting. (Image: BFF) The festival is designed to highlight existing and rising talent while celebrating the country's musical history. Fergus Mutch, festival director, said: 'We've got fantastic concerts from the likes of Valtos, TRIP, Mischa Macpherson and Cahalen Morrison; the local pubs will be jumping with live music and sessions to join in with. READ MORE: Scottish Government announces £23.5 million for active travel programmes 'You'll be able to pick up top performance tips from some world-class musicians in a range of workshops; and there will even be the chance to go wild swimming or foraging, for those who fancy something a bit different. (Image: BFF) 'And where better to enjoy great music than right here in the heart of the Cairngorms – with plenty of opportunity to get outside and soak up the great outdoors between gigs.' Visitors will have the chance to explore the national park area, with guided swimming and foraging workshops being offered during the festival. The festival is being sponsored by the Balmoral Group and the Fife Arms Hotel, and is being presented by St Margaret's Braemar, which is a venue located in the centre of the village. Braemar folk festival runs from October 3 to 5 and tickets are on sale now.

Daily Record

an hour ago

• Daily Record

Older windfarms won't increase East Ayrshire community benefit cash says council

East Ayrshire Council said that other benefits, such as job training support were getting developer support Attempts to increase the amount of money older wind farms give East Ayrshire's communities were met with a firm 'No' according to East Ayrshire Council's head of economic development. However, other moves around training and employment are being backed by developers and energy companies. ‌ The likes of Whitelee Wind Farm, once the biggest in Europe, agreed their level of community benefits before the introduction of guidance from the Scottish Government more than a decade ago. ‌ While there is no legal requirement to offer money to create renewable energy funds, it has become standard practice to offer £5,000 per MW of power produced, as recommended by the Scottish Government. However, this figure was suggested in 2014, with older windfarms often agreeing far less. Whitelee Wind Farm, the largest in the UK and formerly in Europe, agreed to pay just £1,000 per MW, with a subsequent extension application securing an increase to £2,500. Many residents and groups have argued that they should be getting more, especially in areas where there is a significant density of facilities, such as the south end of East Ayrshire. But, David McDowall, Head of Economic Growth at East Ayrshire Council told councillors that many developers were also facing financial struggles. At a meeting of East Ayrshire Cabinet this week, he recommended that no changes be made to the way renewable energy funds are distributed and applied for. ‌ Currently, wind farm funds are limited to communities within 10km of a facility for the first 10 years of operation, with half then being opened up to the whole of East Ayrshire after that period. However, an amendment last year, saw that, before broadening to the whole of the authority, a review to determine whether there was a greater need to maintain the 10km restriction. Whitelee reached that threshold in 2023 and now splits the funding for both the original £1,000 and the subsequent £2,500 for the extension. ‌ Mr McDowall explained: 'A review will be undertaken to assess whether parts of the fund should indeed be made available to a wider spatial area. 'This review will take account of the ongoing need and demand for funding within the 10km buffer and the wider funding landscape beyond the 10km buffer taking cognisance of what funding will be available to the the other relevant communities.' He said the disparity had been discussed with Scottish Power and that they were looking a number of areas to provide 'real opportunities' for communities. ‌ Mr McDowall continued: 'We've recently introduced the Whitelee skills fund which will deliver 30 apprentices and 30 interns along with pre employment training.' However, a push to increase the amount provided by those who had agreed the lower payments per MW has been unsuccessful. He said: 'One of the kind of asks has been, can we get the the the funding updated from the £1,000 or £2,500 to £5,000. ‌ 'We were given a resounding no initially, but discussions are ongoing and there's a proposal to meet between the leaders of East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire to take forward discussions directly with the Scottish Government. 'It is now common place across Scotland that developers work directly with community groups to agree community benefits rather than paying into the the fund so while the renewable energy fund for East Ayrshire remains a viable option for developers it is now one that's being used far less.' Mr McDowall set out the work undertaken by the Nine CC group, a coalition of nine communities in the south of the authority, who have come to together to make better, more strategic, use of the funds each was receiving from community benefits. ‌ However, he did acknowledge that 'several in farm developers are facing challenging financial circumstances and and obviously issues like grid connections as well and that's requiring them in some industries to reprofile their community benefit commitments.' Councillor Iain Linton, Cabinet member for resources and economy said: 'I think it sums up well where we are just now. 'Obviously we're anticipating the Nine CC fund getting up and running in the the near future and that will take a bit of the strain off the the the sharing of the the Whitelee money. ‌ 'I think they seem to be quite keen in the projects that we've supported in the past.' He also said that Scottish Power had showcased a number of the projects in East Ayrshire and hoped that the company would work with the council to promote and potentially expand the apprentice and intern programme. Mr McDowall responded: 'I think they nearly bit my hand off when we suggested it. ‌ 'So they do want, let's say, the accolades that go along with their funding going towards these apprenticeships. 'We're also working with Ayrshire College and and looking at trying to bring some of the pre-apprenticeship training that is delivered both centrally in Glasgow and Edinburgh towards Ayrshire College. 'Obviously we know that there's a a gap in the renewable sector.' He said that both companies were losing staff but also investing in work in East Ayrshire. He added: 'What we're trying to do is to get a lot of those vacancies filled with residents within East Ayrshire.' Cabinet approved the report.