Ember’s network will see an expansion, but also a fare increase to match rising costs
Scottish electric inter-city operator Ember is expanding its network with new routes to Fort William and Oban, building on recent expansion which includes services to Aberdeen. The company says services to Fort William will begin at the end of April, followed by routes to Oban by the summer.
The operator has also been advertising a number of driving roles, organising an open day event in Fort William on 21 March to kick-start driver recruitment in the area as well as pubicise the new routes, which will serve Glasgow, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Airport, Dunblane, Stirling and Grangemouth.
Andy Mason, head of operations at Ember, said: “We’re very excited to be bringing Ember’s zero-emission travel to brand new communities and especially to beautiful places like Fort William and Oban. We’re going to be running services from Fort William from late April, seven days a week. We’ll announce details of specific routes in due course, but these will include direct connections to both Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as many communities in between.
“We also expect to run services to and from a new Oban installation in the early summer, and if any drivers from that area are keen to chat with us about career opportunities, we’d love to hear from them.”
A spokesperson for the company added: “With connections to Inverness and Oban on the horizon, the addition of Fort William marks another step in Ember’s commitment to revolutionising public transport in Scotland.”
The operator also announced a fare increase. “We try to keep price rises to a minimum. The last increase was in May 2024. Since then, a couple of changes have happened which mean we are increasing our prices by an average of 8.5% from Tuesday 1 April 2025. This will allow us to keep running high-quality, reliable services,” the firm said. “The first change is to our costs. As everyone knows, there has been general inflation of 3-4% in the economy. There are also some specific factors that have increased costs a bit further for Ember. In particular, from 5 April the rate of employer’s National Insurance Contribution is increasing and the threshold where we start to pay it is coming down. This increases our costs by close to £1,000 for every driver employed.
“The second change is that from 1 April 2025 the Scottish Government is reducing the amount it pays bus operators when carrying concessions – everyone travelling for free with a bus pass. Of course, we understand that the Government needs to make difficult decisions about allocating funding. We just need to make up for the gap in revenue this leaves, otherwise we would be forced to reduce services.”
