Highland Council eyeing up possible new shuttle bus service between Inverness Airport and the new railway station
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A NEW electric bus shuttle service could be launched by Highland Council to connect the region's newest railway station with Inverness Airport.
The local authority is exploring a number of options to expand its current pilot for in-house bus service operations.
It was launched earlier this year on several routes in a bid to save up to £1.4 million in costs that would have otherwise been spent on school-run subsidies or contracts to private operators.
The council's fleet of buses already numbers 13, with 10 of them in daily use on eight different routes across the area – covering the likes of Nairn's town service, a number of communities on either side of Loch Ness and several local schools. The remaining three buses are being used as cover for maintenance of the rest of the fleet, and to capitalise on additional work as and when it comes in.
And in an update to this week's council redesign board, councillors will be told that the pilot scheme now has a base of operations in Cromwell Road, Inverness – and is eyeing up potential opportunities to expand its routes.
These include the possibility of a new shuttle bus service connecting Inverness Airport with the new railway station on the outskirts of the transport hub.
It is also considering a bid to replace its entire fleet with fully-electric buses using the same government funding that recently enabled Stagecoach to launch a raft of such vehicles in and around Inverness.
Other expansion options include the introduction of fully-electric buses for new in-house services in the Cairngorm National Park around Aviemore.
In a report to councillors, council officers said: "The in-house operations project team are currently exploring additional sources of income for the company in between school service runs or during school holidays when timetables are reduced.
"Opportunities that are currently being explored include curricular school trips, transportation for events such as the Mountain Bike World Cup and Loch Ness Marathon, and for a shuttle service between the new Inverness railway station and Inverness Airport."
Councillors will also be asked to consider the possibility of creating an "arm's length external organisation" which would run the bus operations on the council's behalf.
This is similar to the situation in the likes of Edinburgh, where Lothian Buses is entirely owned by several local authorities but run as a separate entity that works in much the same way as a normal or not-for-profit business.
The update to councillors will also reveal that work is progressing to create a transport management IT system which the council hopes will make running of the existing and new routes more efficient, while also helping the council to save even more money.
An invitation for tenders to operate the system could be published by the end of this month.
The redesign board meeting will take place on Thursday.
