Scotland on the Move How Scotland Works

Scotland is changing and growing.

More than five million people now live and work here,

from the big cities, to the Highlands and Islands.

You think it is just a quiet backwater

where practically nothing goes on, but it's not.

People work very, very hard to make a living.

It's not easy to make a living out here.

Life in the wilderness is being transformed by technology.

Far-flung communities are becoming better-connected.

I've no idea how to fly this thing, but I've got an app.

LAUGHTER

And across Scotland,

people are finding new ways to create their ideal home.

I'm the only one who lives in a boat in my class.

So how does modern Scotland work?

How does Scotland's infrastructure keep the country moving?

How are Scotland's remotest communities facing the future?

And how is home life in Scotland changing in the 21st century?

This series goes to the heart of contemporary Scottish life

to reveal how Scotland works.

Scotland is a small country,

but getting around it has always been a challenge.

Forests and mountain ranges make overland journeys difficult.

And with almost 100 inhabited islands,

the sea also creates a barrier to travel.

For its size, Scotland has a smaller road and rail network

than other European countries.

It also has higher than average car use...

..and some of the busiest domestic ferry routes.

Every year almost eight million people travel to

destinations within Scotland by sea.

But today, how Scottish people and goods get from A to B

is starting to change.

New routes, and some old ones, are being opened up.

And technology is making travel cheaper and cleaner.

So how do Scotland's key transport networks keep the country moving

and prospering?

How is Scotland travelling into the future?

This is Scotland On The Move.

In Aberdeen it's 4pm.

The harbour is packed with ships of all shapes and sizes.

Most are servicing the oilrigs.

But among them is perhaps

the most important vessel in northern Scotland.

This is the ferry that connects Orkney and Shetland to the mainland.

It's being loaded up for its daily voyage across the North Sea.

Even in summer this can be a bumpy trip,

so the cargo has to be secure.

Overseeing the operations is Christopher Devon.

What we're seeing here is our own shore-side staff

driving on the trailers, and they're getting put on trestles

to support them and then lashed down onto the deck.

If you can imagine in the wintertime especially, we have to deal with

some particularly rough seas, so the lashings are vital in securing

the loads and making sure everything stays where it's supposed to.

This ferry is a lifeline

for Scotland's most northerly communities.

We'll ship just about anything.

So we've shipped a 250-ton tidal turbine to Orkney,

which is big into its renewable sector.

We've shipped the circus, fairground rides.

In terms of livestock we've shipped things like llamas and reindeer.

We regularly ship chickens.

You name it, we'll ship just about anything.

But the ferry isn't just essential for bringing supplies in,

it's also vital for shipping produce out to markets on the mainland.

With Scotland's food industry booming,

this top-quality livestock from the Northern Isles is much in-demand.

That's a good heifer, that.

In Shetland, sheep now outnumber people by ten to one,

so these four-legged passengers are a vital part of the ferry's business.

The busy time is September, October.

It's really busy with sheep and that coming out of Shetland.

In the month of September last year we had 57,000...

about 57,500 sheep just from Shetland alone, like.

It's just the time of year

that they get them off the island to the mainland.

At 5pm on the dot, with cargo and passengers safely aboard,

the ferry casts off.

Its first port of call will be Kirkwall in Orkney -

a six-hour sail away.

The route up the east coast

crosses some of Scotland's busiest waters.

At the helm is Captain Sandy Cooper.

Currently we're just coming up round Buchan Ness,

which is also a very busy bit of sea.

Peterhead Harbour is just inside us there.

There's a lot of fishing-related traffic going in or out,

oil-related traffic, and also a lot of the oil supply ships

have to wait outside, waiting on the pilot boat...

on a pilot to take them in and out so...

Quite often when we come up around here we always encounter

quite a lot of traffic, so you've just got to be extra cautious...

..and keep an eye on the radars,

and by visual - looking out the windows.

This ferry is the biggest on any domestic Scottish route.

She's built to withstand the worst the North Sea can throw at her,

and so are the crew.

Well, I live in one of the cabins across the front.

And what I call it when I phone home to my wife and kids, I say,

"Well, I'm living in the washing machine tonight."

It's just a constant bang of waves crashing on your window.

My little boy, Fraser, he'll say,

"How's the washing machine tonight, Dad?"

It's never very nice when it's a night like that, put it that way.

It's just, it's a long night of not much sleep.

Since the turn of the century, the population of the north-east

of Scotland has been growing faster than other parts of the country.

Good transport links are vital to the prosperity of the whole region.

Thanks to the oil industry, Aberdeen now has

the busiest commercial helicopter terminal in the world.

Over 36,000 helicopter flights a year land and take off here,

transporting 517,000 passengers,

most of them destined to work on the oilrigs far out in the North Sea.

And although Aberdeen is only the 29th biggest city in the UK,

the airport as a whole has grown to become one of Britain's busiest.

General manager John Miller

is in charge of this important transport hub.

Last year, Aberdeen Airport

was actually the fifth busiest airport in the UK.

Obviously we're very famous for our helicopters, but the helicopters

actually make up only about 35-40% of the movements here.

The other 65-plus percent of the movements are the fixed wings

that you'd normally associate with an airport.

At the moment, we're varying around 380 to 400 total movements,

but last year we hit our record levels of all time, where we shifted

525 movements in one day, and of course that equates,

across the year,

to 124,000 movements through these runways in the year.

Scottish National Ambulance Service has an aircraft based here.

We have Search & Rescue assets here, because obviously it's a costal airfield.

There are mountain rescue activities that happen that come through the airfield, things like that.

We provide a lot of connectivity to the Highlands and Islands.

There are areas obviously not immediately associated with Aberdeen

that very, very much benefit from the fact that

Aberdeen has an airport as varied and sort of as busy as it is.

With so many flights coming in and out,

keeping the airport running smoothly is a big job.

Down on the ground, operations manager Sadie Leith

keeps a close eye on things.

I'm the head of airfield operations for Aberdeen International Airport.

My responsibility is to make sure that everything is handled safely

from the terminal boarding gates right out across the entire airfield.

I am looking to make sure that everyone is operating safely

around about the aircraft that are in just now,

so we just need to make sure that they are working safely,

making sure the passengers are safe,

and that the aircrafts are safe as well.

Sharing the airspace here are some other flying objects.

A kind that can pose a real threat to safety -

birds.

If a bird hits a plane or gets sucked into an engine,

it can cause a huge amount of damage and even bring an aircraft down,

so preventing collisions is essential.

Keeping the runways clear is down to bird control officer Rory Paul Williams.

Most important is we have to make sure

we have intensive identification.

We have quite tough training about how to identify birds,

all this - their young and their different plumages.

If a bird goes into an engine or a bird has a bird strike,

it's for the safety of our passengers that we have someone on bird patrol all the time.

We have to have an accountability to make sure that we are providing

a safe environment for aircraft to land and take off.

RADIO CHATTER

Sorry, one second.

Tower, Ranger Two, will you copy?

-RADIO:

-'Ranger Two, our last departing Jetstream reported

'he may have hit some birds as he rotated

'somewhere between 2-3 and 3-2.

'There is a landing aircraft at three that's happy to continue.

'Would you be able to check it afterwards?'

Roger Wilco, sir. I'll stand by at Mike-1.

'Roger.'

We have to go for a bird inspection on the runway,

so we have to go quite quickly, I'm afraid to say.

Aberdeen Airport has just one runway for fixed wing aircraft,

so Rory has to be quick off the mark to check it for birds

in between planes landing and taking off.

What's happened was the last aircraft that just took off

possibly had a bird strike, so what I have to do

is I have to check the runway before the next lander.

RADIO CHATTER

One that's just landed, he was happy to accept it,

and he might actually say whether he's seen something on the runway.

But before the next one comes, I need to check the runway

and pronounce it clear for the... any other aircraft that's come in.

I also, if I find remains, I have to identify it

and then we have to fill in reports,

and then we have to work from there, and we will let

the other aircraft that's departed know whether we've found debris

so they can have a look with the other end, for the engineers.

If a bird did strike an aircraft,

the plane will have to be checked for safety, so it's vital

that Rory confirms whether there has or hasn't been a collision.

RADIO CHATTER

So, basically, what I'm doing now is I'm looking

to see if I can find any birds, any bird remains,

any feathers, anything that could signify, anything that could've happened.

But I'm also keeping an eye on the horizon and

I'm waiting for the next aircraft to land so I obviously don't want

to be getting in that way because I don't want it to go around.

Anything over there? No.

So obviously it's a two-way thing.

But obviously if I'm too quick and I miss something

and it gets ingested into an engine,

that would be my fault as well.

Nothing on the grass, nothing on the side. No. Check.

Keeping an eye on the horizon, there's no aircraft coming in.

Nothing to the left. Nothing to the right. No feathers.

Nothing coming off.

Tower, Ranger Two. Vacated Mike-9, runway 1-6.

Drive full length. Nothing seen, nothing found.

-RADIO:

-'Thanks, Two Ranger.'

RADIO CHATTER

Right, so that's the next aircraft now free and ready to land.

There's very few and far between that we actually physically have

actual bird strikes, but every single time we have to check,

we have to be there and we have to react instantly.

A lot of the time we're just there, and we're just sitting down waiting

and moving the birds on, but we have to be there at an instant,

ready to go cos you never know and you should never assume.

Job done, the runway is clear for the incoming plane to land.

The passengers won't know it,

but Rory has played a vital role in getting them on the ground safely.

I try every day and never assume.

Cos you can never take for granted,

you know, my friends and neighbours fly on these aircraft all the time

and I want to make sure I do my job.

Aberdeen Airport links the north of Scotland to the world.

It is helping this part of the country to prosper and grow.

Scotland's island communities also rely on aviation.

Islay, Tiree, Coll and Lewis all have airports

offering regular flights to the mainland,

and planes still touch down on Barra's famous beach runway -

weather permitting.

These routes are busy and passenger numbers are rising.

Recently, a newer island air service

has begun to connect the Hebrides to the rest of Scotland.

It doesn't need an airport, or even a beach.

It's a seaplane to the isles.

-Hey, guys.

-Hello!

I'm just going to pop you to the right here for a little safety briefing, folks.

I've just got a security check to see if you have any liquids.

HE LAUGHS

We need them. We need them!

To release your seatbelts, same as the big aeroplanes.

Lift the metal flap at the side.

I've no idea how to fly this thing, but I've got an app.

LAUGHTER

This one-man airline is the brainchild of pilot David West.

After a long battle to get a licence,

David's seaplane finally took to the skies in 2004.

Since then, some 60,000 passengers have flown with him.

Here we go, guys.

He got the idea after seeing how

seaplane services in other parts of the world were helping

to keep remote areas connected.

I'd flown around doing the commercial work in 747s

for many years and I'd been to places like Alaska, Sydney,

and so forth, and seen the use of seaplanes all over.

I was sitting at the side of Loch Lomond one day

and I thought, "Why don't we have seaplanes in Scotland?"

Sometimes, David uses the River Clyde as his runway.

Today, he's taking off from Loch Lomond.

And the destination?

The Isle of Skye.

Well, folks, hope you're comfortable.

We're just about ready to go.

So once we get to the end of the bay we'll be taking off to the north.

Beautiful, beautiful trip over Loch Lomond today.

Making the Highlands and Islands more accessible

for the millions of tourists and Scots who visit each year

is vital for the economy of those far-flung regions.

Skye, with its romantic associations, is a big attraction.

Getting there by road can take hours.

Today's flight will last just 35 minutes

and take in some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.

Here we are, just coming up at the right side, folks. Just incredible.

'Every mile, it's a fabulous mountaintop,

'a beautiful glen, an incredible-looking loch

'and it just keeps going and keeps changing.

'And that's what I think it is - it just assaults the senses.'

On board today are some passengers from Glasgow,

keen to try this new route to the Highlands.

It's absolutely incredible.

I just can't believe it.

I felt as if I could put my hand out and touch Loch Lomond

and I've lived in Scotland, I'm from Scotland,

and I've never seen Scotland like this. It's wonderful.

We used to go up to Skye for the weekend

to run the Skye Half Marathon

and we always thought it was a great weekend

but once you drove up and drove back, you're exhausted.

But doing it this way is just wonderful.

I decided just to take the day off work yesterday.

Looking at the weather forecast, just jump in the plane and...

I'd never go up to Skye if I had to go up by road

so this is fantastic for me.

A quick day out of the office, basically!

Just to our left, folks, Loch Sunart there.

Heading pretty much on the left wing,

looking across towards Tobermory.

Just crossed the Great Glen there.

Fort William on the right-hand side,

and very shortly over Loch Shiel.

INAUDIBLE

We're over Knoydart at the moment.

Probably one of the more remote places in Scotland,

where you can't drive in.

You can walk in and you can get a boat in. Or a seaplane.

After just half an hour, the seaplane begins its descent.

Now we're just descending across the Sound of Sleat

and then we're in for landing in about five minutes.

This seaplane is also fitted with wheels

so it can land on solid ground if it needs to.

Today, David is touching down on

an old military airstrip outside Broadford,

which has been given a new lease of life by his seaplane service.

Well, folks, welcome to Broadford International.

If you'd like to set your watches back 20 years.

LAUGHTER

Hope you enjoyed that, guys!

-Just magnificent.

-Yes.

-It was wonderful.

Right, guys. Lovely. Watch your heads there.

It takes you hours, hours and so tiring to come by road.

But 55 minutes from Loch Lomond-side to here - can't beat it.

David has flown all over the world,

but for him, this uniquely Scottish journey remains a thrill.

There's absolutely no boredom.

I could do this 10, 15, 20 times a day

because every time you go out, it's different.

The cloud's a bit different, the visibility's a bit different,

the light can be very different, and we always joke with the passengers,

the "five rule" in Scotland -

you know, wait five minutes, travel five miles,

and sometimes it will be overcast and horrible, raining here

and people going, "We're not going up in that." We say, "Just wait."

Two minutes down the road, we pop into the blue sky,

we're on the west coast, the Island of Jura is coming up

and you can see halfway to New York.

That's what it's like and it's different every flight.

Keeping Scotland moving is essential for the prosperity of the country.

More than 400 million bus journeys and 44 billion vehicle kilometres

are driven on Scotland's roads each year.

And annually, 96 million journeys are taken by train.

Like the rest of the UK, Scotland's transport infrastructure

mixes the old and the new.

Maintaining it and making sure it's fit for the 21st century

is a huge and seemingly never-ending job.

Sometimes, the older parts need a bit of TLC.

Glasgow is home to Scotland's only underground railway.

Opened in 1896, the Glasgow Subway is the third oldest in the world

after London and Budapest.

Almost 13 million journeys are taken by subway each year.

The network runs in two circular loops around the city centre.

It has never been extended beyond its original Victorian route,

and the last big modernisation programme was in the 1970s.

So now, the system is having a makeover to bring it up-to-date.

It's a big job.

The chair of the company that runs Glasgow's Subway, SPT,

is Jonathan Findlay.

The Glasgow Subway is undergoing a huge modernisation programme.

You can see on the surface here

we have made a huge investment in the stations,

but the biggest investment will take place down the stairs

in terms of the ticket offices,

and actually the Subway tunnels and trains themselves.

For people who haven't been to the Glasgow Subway before,

it's a wee bit unusual, in that it's two concentric circles.

Unlike the London Underground

or some of the other larger ones, perhaps in New York,

it is quite dinky.

And that's part of its attraction, and a lot of visitors to the city

do come along just to see the Subway itself.

-ARCHIVE NARRATOR:

-Built as a cable-haul railway

in the reign of Queen Victoria, apart from electrification,

it's changed little in nearly 80 years of service.

And it has a very special place in the hearts of the people of Glasgow.

I like the Subway.

-I think it's pretty good.

-We've never had any trouble with it.

I think the Subway is a good means of transport.

It's far better than the bus anyway.

So what improvements have been made

so far to Glasgow's much-loved subterranean railway?

Gone are all the browns of the 1970s

and it's a far airier and brighter place to be.

Modern ticketing machines, which will take our new smart cards,

which there have been over 100,000 issued so far.

And these smart cards are designed, ultimately,

to be able to be used, not only on the Subway,

but on trains, ferries and, hopefully, buses, so it'll help us

in our aim to get public transport as integrated as we possibly can.

But one of the biggest challenges this modernisation programme faces

is in the tunnels.

Guys that work in the Subway, particularly at night-time when

people don't see what goes on, do a fantastic job of keeping the system

running, but the system is creaking at the seams and the modernisation

is to make sure we have a modern Glasgow Subway for the 21st century.

Project manager on the night shift tonight is Stephen Shannon.

Tonight we'll have a total of

about 24, 25 different sets of contractors.

Total personnel within the system between internal personnel,

external, will be somewhere in the region of about 350 to 400.

The team that I'm responsible for has a sort of dual role.

Our main focus is maintaining the system,

allowing the trains to operate on a daily basis,

but coupled up to that responsibility, there's also

an onus on us to deliver part of the modernisation programme.

Transport bosses have decided that

the Subway can't be shut while work goes on.

So to keep Glasgow moving,

the engineers have to work through the night.

This means that every shift's work is a race against time.

We'll be installing just under 400 feet of rail.

The first two joints of that rail will be welded in this shift,

leaving ten joints bolted in order for the traffic to start running

at six o'clock tomorrow morning.

So we're pretty much up against it time-wise,

but we're quite confident that in the next five hours,

the work will be completed with plenty of time.

Many of the engineers who work night shifts here

have years of experience with this unique network.

Their dedication makes sure that

Glasgow's historic Subway doesn't grind to a halt.

And here beneath the city streets,

a strong sense of camaraderie has grown up among the team.

Personally, I've worked here on night shift for 18 years.

About 90% of our employees that work night shift are all long-term.

Some a lot longer than I have.

It's pretty much a unique environment.

Most people that come in here and start working with us

tend to stay for a long period of time.

Most of the guys that work with us all have families.

I've seen families grow up

and I think part and parcel of the night shift working allows

a large contribution from us because of the flexibility the night shift

allows you to have during the day.

When I started there, there were no jobs outside.

I was lucky enough to get a job.

I went to the Jobcentre, got a job in here

and I've never looked back.

I've been in here 20 years, constant night shift.

A lot of good banter.

Cos you're working with these guys eight, ten hours a day,

so you probably see more of these guys than you do your own family.

Once we disappear into the tunnels, nobody knows where we are.

It's very, very dirty, as you can see.

It's quite hard work as well.

But I like it. It's a good bunch of boys here, so...

I'm the youngest. I'm trying to work my way up the ladder.

It's good to do that as well.

There's guys in here when they were 20 year old,

frae they were 18, 20 years, and they worked up the ladder,

so hopefully I can do that as well.

I suppose for somebody coming in new into the system,

it's a bit of an eye-opener, as such.

You're part of a process that allows, basically, Glasgow

to keep moving on a daily basis.

The modernisation programme will see 12 miles of rail replaced,

stations remodelled and ticketing systems upgraded.

When it's finished,

Glasgow's 120-year-old underground railway will be fit for the future.

Glasgow has long been at the cutting edge

when it comes to transport.

As well as the Subway, by the 1920s,

it had one of Europe's largest tram systems.

Today, the city also has the largest urban overground rail network

in the UK, outside London.

But Glasgow's most distinctive bit of transport infrastructure

is also perhaps its most controversial.

Between them, the M77, M74 and M8

make up the biggest urban motorway system in Britain,

and one of the biggest in Europe.

The first section was opened in 1964.

Since then, the motorways have just kept on growing.

Today, tens of millions of journeys

are made on Glasgow's motorways each year.

The newest stretch, the M74 extension, was opened in 2012,

and now carries 100,000 vehicles a day.

For nearly 50 years these ribbons of concrete have defined the cityscape

and divided opinion.

In the past, new sections have attracted fierce local opposition.

But along the way,

Glasgow's motorways have also picked up some...fans.

See that? I've not noticed that detail before.

Elevated for a short stretch, down past Glasgow Cross...

-Mm-hmm.

-..and then as you come back towards Glasgow Green,

going back into the tunnel,

re-emerging on the south side of the river

and then proceeding as a south flank almost entirely elevated.

I believe the technical term for a road geek or road enthusiast

is an hodologist - someone who is interested in the study of roads.

I believe it's Latin.

Road geeks, motorway geeks.

Geeks are in at the moment. Geeks are seen as fashionable.

Civil engineers Stuart Baird and John Hassle run a website

telling the story of Glasgow's motorways.

I think I was always fascinated by the motorway.

We did live quite near to Glasgow

and when we would go in shopping and on family trips

and things like that, we would generally take the motorway,

the M74 in particular, which is one of my favourites,

so it's something, I think, that's grown with me.

I'm always a bit worried about doing things on that home page,

-to be fair.

-Why?

Just in case one does not approve, if you know what I mean.

Makes me sound like a tyrant.

THEY LAUGH

Some people have hobbies - you know,

model railways and things like that.

Well, for me, it's the motorway.

It's not just a model - it's there, it's real life, it exists,

it's something that you can use, something that you can see.

Yeah, it's very interesting.

As part of their research, Stuart and John are recording

the personal stories of the people who built Glasgow's motorways.

Today, they're meeting engineer John Cullen,

who was involved from the very beginning.

Hi, Stuart. Hi, there.

And thinking about the...

the route chosen across the city - how much of that did you...

were you involved in choosing that line?

The motorway pretty well chose itself

because it was going from the A8 to the ring road,

just on the open space after the Monkland Canal was closed.

In the early 1960s, when John began work on Glasgow's system,

motorways were almost unknown in the UK.

But he had a unique qualification -

he had already experienced the future of road building in America.

-ARCHIVE NARRATOR:

-See the freeways with their cloverleaf junctions,

their space-age crossovers,

that make Britain's M1 look like a lazy country lane.

I ended up working in San Francisco

on the design of what they called freeways, urban freeways,

so when I returned to Scotland

I was almost certainly the only person in Britain who'd

actually designed urban motorways.

It was fascinating. It was like solving puzzles.

Glasgow's motorway plan

was the biggest and most radical the UK had ever seen.

It involved flattening neighbourhoods

and transforming the way the city functioned.

The hope was that the motorways would relieve chronic congestion,

cut road accidents and improve life in Glasgow for everyone.

So, 50 years on, does John believe

the motorways have been a benefit or a blight?

The average speed on the motorways today is about 50mph

and the average speed on the ordinary roads

is about 20mph.

So there's a very big saving in time.

There's also a saving in accidents.

It turned out that the motorway's accident rate was

a tenth of that on the normal roads.

To date, I reckon there's been a reduction in about 800 fatalities

and 10,000 serious injuries, within the city.

Today, the motorways that John helped to design

are still keeping Glasgow moving.

And they are carrying far more vehicles

than anyone predicted at the time.

The biggest flow's on the Kingston Bridge - 180,000 vehicles a day.

And on the north flank of the ring road at Townhead it's 180,000 a day.

I think on this road here, it's something just short of 100,000.

That is big flows by any standard.

I have to say that this particular part, I think,

operates pretty smoothly.

So you're quite chuffed with it?

Yes.

Knowing the work that was involved in actually designing

the system as well, knowing the passion that was there

in the original designers, you know that these guys were genuinely

interested in moving Glasgow forward and it's almost a pleasure to drive

on their design - their motorway that was ultimately constructed.

But to really appreciate the motorway,

there's only one thing to do...

MUSIC: Roadrunner by The Modern Lovers

# Roadrunner, roadrunner... #

..go for a drive.

# Going faster miles an hour

# Gonna drive past the Stop 'n' Shop

# With the radio on... #

Here we are, joining the best section.

On approach to the Kingston Bridge and through Charing Cross.

It's got to be... It's the bit everyone thinks of

-when they think of the urban motorway in Glasgow.

-Yeah.

-Most definitely.

-So we've got three motorways meeting here.

We've got the M77, the M8 that we're on now

-and we've got the new M74...

-Just coming up. Absolutely.

And this is 16 lanes wide.

-16 lanes wide.

-16 lanes running lanes wide with four carriageways.

-And all motorway traffic.

-All motorway traffic!

All motorway traffic and hard shoulders as well.

-And the Charing Cross canyon here.

-Yes. Brilliant.

-Yep.

-Fantastic.

-I like the retaining walls.

-Yep.

Nice clad retaining walls. Bridges over there.

And, of course, buildings built over the motorway as well,

you know, again, making a feature of it.

People looking out of their office.

There's a junction in here. Don't forget that.

Through the tunnel there, yeah.

And this is probably the section

-that feels most like that kind of American freeway model.

-Yeah.

Where you've got the lanes coming on at the opposite side to normal,

you've no hard shoulders, nice big, wide lanes, elevated structures.

Good overhead signage - that tells you where you're going.

You don't have any signs at the side of the road.

And of course floodlit by the high-mast lighting as well.

-Yes.

-Fantastic feature.

I would actually like to live near this. I know some people might not,

but personally for us, I think it would be good to see this.

Can you imagine opening the blinds in the morning

and looking out onto the urban M8?

-I would love that.

-Yeah.

-Some people would think that was crazy.

-Yeah.

-But no.

-Maybe it is.

The building project that John began still isn't complete.

In 2015, work finally commenced

on the last section of the M8 to the east of Glasgow.

And the M74 has now been completed,

connecting the city's ring road together

50 years after it was started.

Building bigger roads is one way of keeping Scotland moving.

Some Scottish cities think

there is a more serious traffic problem to be tackled - pollution.

There are 2.8 million motor vehicles on Scotland's roads.

The vast majority run on fossil fuels.

If Scotland is to hit its carbon emissions targets

and improve its air quality, that's going to have to change.

In Aberdeen, this is already starting to happen...

on the buses.

George Shearer has been driving buses in the city for ten years.

Lately, he's been getting to grips with a new generation of vehicles.

They're a lot smoother. They're...

..as you've noticed, probably, very quiet.

They're just nicer to drive

compared to some of our older models.

This bus is part of Aberdeen's flagship fleet of eco-buses,

fuelled not by diesel but by hydrogen gas.

Much cleaner than diesel and carbon neutral,

hydrogen is at the forefront of fuel innovation.

For drivers like George, the idea took a bit of getting used to.

When they first mentioned the hydrogen,

I think some people were a bit wary

about having to refuel them in the morning.

We were reassured it was all very safe...

There's so many safety features in this vehicle,

nothing could possibly happen.

So, it's goodbye to the smelly diesel pump

and hello to the fuel station of the future...

at this, the biggest hydrogen production

and bus refuelling facility in the UK.

Barney Crockett from Aberdeen City Council

has had a key role in the project.

We've seen hydrogen in the city as a key to the way forward

in energy use and in transport, and so, for some years,

we've been trying to advance this, so we're very pleased we now have

the world's largest fleet of hydrogen buses based in our city.

We have a hydrogen refuelling station for the buses,

but also we're building a second station

that will also provide for cars and other kinds of vehicles.

So hydrogen is an absolutely clean fuel.

The only product is water vapour.

So, you know, it gives us a huge benefit for our city air quality.

If you think about what a hydrogen city would be like,

if everything was proceeding in a very smooth, silent form,

it would make a huge difference to what the ambience of a city is,

and we're making a small step forward with that

with our hydrogen buses.

And even in oil city Aberdeen,

locals seem to approve of this move away from fossil fuels.

I think it's the future.

Obviously, at some point, the oil is going to run out,

so powering vehicles from hydrogen makes a lot of sense.

I work in the oil industry and we definitely need to come up

with other solutions other than the oil, because...

It's not going to run out immediately,

but we need to have a backup plan.

We don't want to make everything kind of...worse.

Where I work in Market Street, the amount of buses

and lorries that pass, you can smell the exhaust fumes,

so...yeah,

if it goes that way, it'll be all the better.

But as with any new technology...

there can be a few glitches.

The reliability of these buses is a bit of a sore point.

They're...

They're forever breaking down.

I'd like to think it's only teething problems, but...

I'm sure once they've got all the niggles sorted out,

they might be very good.

Not to be outdone, down the road in Dundee,

another road-traffic revolution is underway.

This time, it's the city's cab fleet

that's driving boldly into the future.

In 2015, one of Dundee's biggest taxi firms

decided to try an experiment.

It launched the UK's largest fleet of electric cabs - 30 in all.

These vehicles have a range of up to 150 miles -

enough for an average day around town.

Taxi boss David Young has been backing the scheme.

Because I've been involved in the project

for the best part of three years,

everyone you meet's exactly the same -

they're all evangelical, if you like.

There's nobody who will say a bad word against the vehicle.

The range anxiety goes

when you know that you have to refuel, if you like,

you have to charge up...

And, because there's always downtime in taxis,

the lads get a chance to come to the depot.

They can have a cup of coffee, have a break, a game of pool,

watch Sky, and, when their car's good and ready, it's charged...

And it only takes 25 minutes for a full charge.

..away they go.

-All right, Paul? How's things going?

-Good.

-Good, yeah?

'The drivers themselves have fell in love with these vehicles.'

So because we're giving our drivers free electricity,

they're saving between £120

to £130, £135 a week on fuel.

You've got a situation now where two or three of them

have actually sold their family car

and use that vehicle in its place.

Me and a lot of people like me are totally dedicated

and committed to seeing it work, not only in Dundee, but beyond.

Driver Bill Rattray was one of the first to try the new vehicles.

Since about eight o'clock, that's a couple of hours,

we've picked up three people,

and I've gone down to about 44%,

which is giving me 41 miles a charge.

I'm close to the yard now and there's a few pubs up there,

and the football's just finished. so if we're up about the yard,

I can put the car on charge and I stay in the queue for a job.

But we'll see - we'll maybe get two or three minutes of charge

before we need to go and pick somebody else up.

This has got to be the way to go - to not have to pay for fuel.

Why wouldn't you want that? I know people are scared,

and I know people really think it's kind of mumbo jumbo sometimes,

but it's a car, just the same as any other car.

I just don't have to change gears

or I don't have to sit in a diesel car

that's making a great big noise and stinks, and things like that.

I'm in a clean car with Bluetooth and climate control.

-BEEPING

-And I've just got another job.

Everything that happens...

It's absolutely a fantastic car to be driving.

It's not just Dundee's cabbies

that are becoming converts to electric cars.

More ordinary drivers are making the switch.

I've been driving this electric for maybe about six, nine months now.

Before that I was driving a CR-V, like, a 4x4, which was...

Some weeks it was £50, £60 for petrol.

So we've made a huge saving.

As you start using it,

you kind of get to know how to drive it more economically.

If I'm at my parents' house, we can literally drive into the driveway,

put the charger through the kitchen window,

and plug it in the kitchen, which is great.

So if you get an opportunity to do it overnight,

either like that at home or on one of the chargers

that are a trickle charge, that makes it more economical to drive.

Yeah, we've certainly got more money left over for fun.

And it's just a great way to get around.

But there's no point driving an electric car

unless you can find somewhere to plug it in.

So Dundee is rolling out a network

of state-of-the-art charging points across the city.

I used to drive a gas-guzzling sports car,

and I've always been interested in the electric cars.

And at the moment they're doing great deals on these cars.

You can purchase them for the same cost

as what it might cost you in fuel per week.

That's what it was for me, so really it was a no-brainer.

And then the car has no maintenance, no tax, no MOT,

no servicing costs, so it's very cheap to run.

The Government, they give you a grant for your house

to get a charging point installed.

So at our house we've got a charging point installed,

so when I come home from work, it's just like plugging in your phone.

Just takes two seconds. You just get the lead,

put it into your car, and that's you done.

I think as the technology is improving,

more and more people will convert to electric cars

as the range gets further and the technology gets better

and the prices get cheaper as well.

Investing in transport has always helped Scotland to prosper.

Decades before cars or even trams arrived,

Scotland was already well-connected by the railway.

Today, Scotland has 1,750 miles of railway

and 358 stations.

But that's less than there once was, because in the mid-1960s,

around the time Scotland's roads were experiencing a building boom,

the rail system actually started to shrink.

In the wake of the Beeching Report into the UK rail network,

more than a dozen routes right across the country were axed.

One of them was the line that ran from Carlisle to Edinburgh

via the Borders, known as the Waverley Route.

Towns like Galashiels and Hawick were left more isolated

than they had been for a century.

Now, with rail travel more popular than ever,

that decision has been reversed,

and this historic line is being reopened.

In Galashiels, some lucky local people

have been given golden tickets for the maiden voyage.

Among them is one family with an extra reason to be excited.

There's Daddy!

There's Dad!

Daddy is driving the train.

-Daddy!

-It's Daddy!

You got a cuddle for Daddy?

-Hello!

-Aw, baby.

-Mwah!

Stuart Farrell was working as a car mechanic

when he applied to be a driver on the new line.

He beat 200 applicants to get the job.

I think you always had that childhood dream.

I was born in the Borders, so it's massive.

I mean, I never knew the railway growing up,

so for the older generation,

they've had something that was a success and lost that.

To now get that back is just massive for this region, it really is.

Just wave!

Today marks a first for Stuart as well.

This will be his first time carrying passengers.

That's great, thank you!

My family is immensely proud.

They're just so excited. This'll be the first time

that they've been on a train that I've driven.

So that's a new challenge for myself,

to put that to the back of my mind when I'm driving.

But, yeah, the sense of pride -

I mean, everybody's so excited for this.

You can tell that looking down the platform just now.

They're just really excited to be a part of history.

Shook hands with the driver on the last train out,

so I'd better shake hands with the driver again.

Good to see you.

On board, Stuart's wife Lynn and daughter Cadie take their seats

for the 60-minute journey to Edinburgh.

-APPLAUSE

-We're going! Say bye!

Bye!

-Wow!

-Wow!

-Wow!

-Say bye.

Bye, bye, bye.

Local people campaigned for this for years.

In 2006, the Scottish Government finally gave the go-ahead.

The man in charge of constructing the line was Hugh Wark.

So I was always aware of it. It was a very iconic, romantic railway.

It's huge in railway folklore, if you like.

There's been lots of books written about it.

And I never thought I would see the day

when I would have the opportunity to lead the team rebuilding it.

So it was wonderful to see this grand old lady of railways

reopen again, with its magnificent structures

and the magnificent countryside that it passes through.

Rebuilding the line was a challenging job.

The tracks were long gone.

Bridges and tunnels were crumbling, and nature had moved in.

We had to move something like 160 badger setts

during the construction of the line,

and we had to deal with badgers, bats, river lamprey,

which is a special type of protected fish.

So lots of environmental challenges,

as we've tried to sensitively build this railway

through a beautiful landscape.

Today, with the work finally complete,

the first train-load of passengers is discovering

just what a difference this line will make to their lives.

It's phenomenal.

I mean, even driving up and down the A7, I've been going, "Oh, yay!"

You can see it developing, and been really looking forward to it.

And makes you appreciate

the beautiful countryside that we've got.

I love being from the Borders. I think it's beautiful,

I think it's got a lot that the cities don't offer.

But the railway, I think, will definitely open up more access

for us to go to the city, people from the city to come down

and see us and see our beautiful countryside

and everything that we've got to offer.

And job opportunities as well - you know, a commute to Edinburgh

is going to be less of a stressful thing now.

Or just to easily move between - you know,

it's not like a separate divide now, the countryside and the city.

We've been merged together by the railway,

and that can only be a good thing.

Also among the passengers is Stuart's mother, Maureen.

Travelling on a train driven by her son is a novel experience -

but not entirely unexpected.

I can remember Stuart when he was a little boy.

He was always driving something,

whether it was a train or a police car or a fire engine.

Him and his brother Craig were always making train noises, or...

And that's him actually... his dream came to life, you know?

The Borders railway doesn't just connect towns like Galashiels

and Tweedbank to Edinburgh.

It has opened up a new route into the capital

for thousands of people on the outskirts of the city.

And compared to driving or taking the bus, it's fast.

I just can't believe that we're so far so quick.

You know, usually by this point we'd be coming up for Stow in the car,

or even less in the bus.

But on the train, we're almost halfway there. It's surreal.

-Is this Coatbridge, then, now, you think?

-Yeah.

-That is just outside Edinburgh, then, isn't it?

-Wow.

That's phenomenal.

For some of the passengers, this isn't just a new experience -

it's a trip down memory lane as well.

I used to - when I had my first child,

I used to put the pram into the carriages at the back

and come down and see my mum in Galashiels.

Really to show off my pram and my baby. Yeah.

And my mother-in-law worked on the railway.

She used to handle the sleepers and everything.

And my late father-in-law worked on the train.

They worked at Chirnside on the train.

He was the station master there.

They did miss it really bad in the community,

because it was so easy to get everywhere

when the train was there.

And for the locals who campaigned for it,

this new link will help reconnect the Borders to the rest of Scotland.

Growing up and before I went to university,

people would say you were from the Borders,

and I'd mention Galashiels, and they barely knew where that was,

in some cases. And it was 30 miles from Edinburgh.

I'm just glad the Borders has possibly rejoined Scotland recently,

in a strange way. You might say it's just a railway,

but it's more than that. It's much more than that.

-That's us there.

-Say, "Stop!"

The new railway's first journey

arrives in Edinburgh without a hitch.

Look! Who is it?

Oh, there's Daddy there.

-Awww.

-Yay!

BAGPIPES

-How was that?

-It was good, yeah. Enjoyed it. Finally here.

After 50 years, the Borders has been reconnected to the capital by rail.

It's a new lease of life for this historic line.

And a new piece of the system that keeps Scotland moving.

Out in the North Sea, the ferry from Aberdeen to Orkney

is three hours into its six-hour voyage,

and the passengers are getting hungry.

Down in the galley, chef Tony Matson

and his team are preparing dinner.

This is the galley for the Rothesay and this is our galley team.

-This is Gary Hewison.

-Hi.

-Mark Stevens.

-Hello, how you doing?

And at the far back there is Ryan MacVicar.

So we're just getting ready for tonight's service,

which will be covering about 214 passengers, roughly.

This is a big ship.

But the galley is still a compact space

in which to prepare dinner for this many people.

And working in a floating kitchen presents some particular challenges.

Every day is a different day in the galley.

The seas and the conditions could be flat, calm.

The next day it could be rough.

You have to put up safety equipment, safety barriers,

cook within safety margins.

The ship will roll. It will.

With the motion and that.

You will get a bit of motion, but this time of year,

it shouldn't be too bad.

HE LAUGHS

But despite the conditions,

the staff here are devoted to their life on the ocean waves.

Galley steward Chris O'Connor has been working at sea

ever since he left school and joined the Navy.

Had my sea legs since I was 16,

so there's not been a problem there.

Working on land - I had a five-year period after I left the Royal Navy,

working on land, and I had seven different jobs in five years.

I just... I couldn't handle it,

before I got a chance to come to sea again.

And now I'm in my 11th year back at sea.

This is where I belong, not in a land-based kitchen.

Definitely not.

It's a much, much more relaxed environment

to work in than it is working ashore.

Much, much better.

The ferry ploughs Scotland's longest sea route.

Tonight, after landing in Orkney, it will sail on to Shetland,

nearly eight hours further away.

So, unlike most Scottish ferries,

it offers some luxury overnight accommodation.

So this is an outside two cabin.

We have hospitality facilities - tea, coffee.

A phone, which gets you to reception and also dials you to other cabins.

En-suite facility.

It's almost a wet room.

Probably medical emergencies -

I would say we have quite a bit of medical emergencies onboard.

Compared to a hotel where you can have an ambulance service,

or if you have other issues,

I suppose you can also get the police.

Onboard we have a lot to deal with, so it's down to us.

This North Sea route is one of the stormiest in Europe, so above all,

there's one key job requirement for staff -

a sturdy pair of sea legs.

As a passenger, I have felt seasick on a ferry.

But when it comes to work, you kind of... Your head's focused

and you don't have time to really think about it.

So stretch out an arm and usually give them a hand

and take them to the cabins, or we also have a wheelchair onboard

that we can give people a hand down to their cabins,

which has had to come out a few times.

But usually just grip on tight, and we'll have steady legs

and we'll be able to take you where you're going.

At the moment, we work two weeks on, two weeks off,

and then four times a year we have annual leave of four weeks off.

So we work 20 weeks a year

and 30 weeks at home with our loving families.

The time off's fantastic, yeah.

It goes really quick, but then it's work hard, play hard.

And yeah, you miss your family when you're onboard,

and you know, it's a sacrifice to come to sea,

but it has its rewards.

At 11pm, the ferry finally docks in Kirkwall.

It will spend an hour here unloading before heading back out to sea

for the final leg of its voyage to Shetland,

keeping Scotland's most northerly islands

connected to the mainland and the world.

HORN BLARES Next time...

OK, guys, off you go!

How is life in Scotland's remotest communities

changing in the 21st century?

What new kinds of jobs and industries are helping to boost

prosperity in the Highlands and Islands?

CAR ENGINE REVS

How are Scotland's wild places facing the future?