Lothian Buses is one of the public transport providers that have benefited from the very significant level of funding that we have provided over the past year.

Although it is important to recognise that people should make use of public transport only for essential journeys, it is also important to recognise that making use of public transport is safe, given the very significant measures that have been put in place by public transport providers. One of the important elements that we have taken forward over recent months is the encouragement of operators to maintain high standards in making sure that mitigation measures are in place. Equally, as we transition out of the pandemic, the transport transition plan will set out details of the actions that we will take with public transport providers to encourage people back to using public transport when that it is appropriate and safe; we will look at introducing the means of encouraging people back on to public transport.