Is bus travel in Edinburgh's fast lane to a greener destination?

The woman leading the drive to increase use of city's public transport

Lothian’s Sarah Boyd: Pic courtesy Lothian

You wait patiently for a bus, and then 50 arrive in a rush. Well, not exactly, but the arrival of the first of Lothian’s fleet of new electric Volvo buses hit the streets of Edinburgh over the past few days – representing a major step forward in the greening of the fleet.

That represents another milestone passed under the undeniably successful watch of Sarah Boyd, Managing Director of the bus company which plays the major role – along with Edinburgh Trams – of ferrying 2 million people a week into, out of, and around the city.

That’s a lot of people – but remember that’s just an average, and the reality of being the foundation stone of the Capital’s public transport network is that you need to flex, to cope with the city’s busiest times. Like August, when the three weeks of the summer festivals saw the number of passenger journeys swell by a further million.

Unlike ScotRail, which failed miserably to rise to the challenge, Lothian Buses coped admirably.

Think the Royal Highland Show in June, Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay festivals, The Six Nations, Taylor Swift, Oasis…you get the drift. Being the main bus provider in the busiest tourist destination outside London in the UK means more than running the 94 regular passenger routes for which the group, which includes East Coast Buses, is responsible.