A campaign has been launched to bring a £150million transport scheme to the Granite City which could rival Edinburgh's trams or Glasgow's subway system.
Discussions about creating an Aberdeen Rapid Transit (ART) scheme have been ongoing for a long time, but ambitions have now been stepped up a gear, says the Press and Journal.
If approved, a fleet of vehicles would be introduced to Aberdeen similar to normal buses, but much larger, which would take passengers efficiently and rapidly across the Granite City.
It would be similar to the £90million Belfast Glider public transport service, which has brought dozens of big purple vehicles to the Northern Irish city.
Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils, First Bus, Stagecoach and regional transport body Nestrans are all working together on making ART project a reality.
Bus partnership fund
They hope to achieve their goals with the help of the Scottish Government's £500million Bus Partnership Fund.
The vehicles proposed for use in ART are essentially regular buses, though bigger.
According to Nestrans, it would be far better for passengers than taking a traditional bus.
Rab Dickson, director of Nestrans and former head of transport at Aberdeen City Council, told the P&J it would be a "top-of-the-range public transport service".
He said: "We see it as more than just a bus, and almost tram-like in its operation.
"The significant changes are the efficiency and effectiveness, and improved journey times in particular".
Bus halts
Instead of having regular bus stops, Mr Dickson explained the proposals for ART would instead involve the use of "bus halts", where the vehicles would stop.
Unlike regular buses, they would have "multiple doors along the side of the vehicle, and bus halts which are the complete length of the vehicle to encourage people to get on and off".
It is intended that the ART project would include the creation of raised platforms for people to easily get on and off, regardless of if they're on foot, pushing a pram, or using a wheelchair.
It would use an "off-bus ticketing scheme", meaning no interactions with drivers to slow down travel, or lengthy waits for people to count out their change.
Instead, users would pay for their tickets before getting on, and scan them when boarding.
Mr Dickson continued: "It stops at halts for a few seconds, rather than the situations you can get with bus bus stops, and in doing so it makes a journey time which is competitive with the car."
Priority at junctions
He said ART would make use of existing bus lanes "where possible", and would have "priority at signalised junctions where that's possible", in order to get "optimum journey times".
Although plans are still at early stages, the scheme could include dedicated bus lanes just for the ART vehicles.
The Nestrans director sees the project as "very much complementary" with existing bus services in and around Aberdeen, and said there would be lots of opportunities for travellers to interchange between the ART and regular buses in order to get about.
"We're also wanting something that's compatible with active travel, making sure that cyclists are fully catered for," he added.
Mr Dickson said ART would follow two primary routes through the city, one from Bridge of Don to Kingswells, and one from Craibstone to Portlethen.
The two routes would cross over each other in the middle of Aberdeen city centre.
Not set in stone
However, the details are not yet set in stone, and a Nestrans map of initial plans for the ART show it reaching out as far as Westhill.
Mr Dickson said it's too early to say if it would be operated by First, Stagecoach, Nestrans or the councils - or a combination of any and all of them.
He explained: "It could be done in partnership, it could be done through a franchise, or it could be done by establishing an arm's length company."
Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: "ART is an innovative and exciting development in moving people into and from the city centre, but it’s only a small part of the jigsaw and cannot be the sum total of our ambition for a future transport system within the region.
"While ART is about moving people onto public transport, we have to recognise the practical geography and demography of a uniquely interdependent city and shire region and that private transport will remain an important part of the mix. With this in mind, it’s vital that cars and buses have shared priority and a critical piece of decarbonising transport needs to be wholesale shift to hydrogen, EVs and LEVs — and the charging capacity and infrastructure in all parts of our region to enable that to happen.
"The Chamber is also focused on connecting Aberdeen to the rest of the region, Scotland and beyond. We support reinstatement of rail to the Peterhead and Fraserburgh via Ellon and are delighted that our support for Campaign for NE Rail has helped secure £250k from the Just Transition Fund for a feasibility study. Alongside this must sit investment at pace and scale to speed up rail journey times to the central belt."