‘Paying over the odds’

Bringing Scotland’s crisis-hit bus industry back into public hands could generate up to £76m a year to improve services, according to research for Unite.

 
Unite commissioned Transport for Quality of Life to look into how we could create world-class bus services across the UK.

 
The research found that bringing Scotland’s buses back under public regulation would free up around £51m per year.

 
And bringing buses across the country back under municipal ownership would save around ÂŁ76m.

 
“Thirty years of bus deregulation has shown it to be a disaster for passengers and for the public finances,” said Transport for Quality of Life Dr Ian Taylor.

 
“Bus operators have cherry-picked the best routes for profit, leaving the public purse to pick up the rest.

 
“London regulates bus services under a franchising system that puts a lid on excessive profits,” he added. “Even the Conservative government in Westminster has seen the folly of the bus deregulation introduced in 1986 by a previous Conservative administration.

 
“Scotland should start with franchising then look to expand its existing high-performing municipally-owned bus operations to save even more money to provide enhanced bus services.”

 
Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty agreed.

“People in Scotland are paying over the odds twice – once through the subsidy we give to private companies through the national concession fare scheme and other forms of support, and then again through inflation-busting fares,” he said.

 
“Regulation and public ownership would create tens of millions of pounds that we can use to invest efficiently in a system that puts people before profit, with long-term planning and a joined-up network that works for passengers.

 
“It will also allow us to invest in the skills of our members in the bus industry, freeing them to provide a better service for all of us.”

 
Scotland already has two municipal bus companies in Dumfries & Galloway and Lothian Buses in Edinburgh.

 
Unite Scotland’s Haud the Bus campaign has lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament, calling on the Scottish Government to re-regulate Scotland’s buses, and to carry out research on the benefits of common ownership.

It follows evidence showing the extent of the crisis facing Scotland’s bus services.

For example, the number of bus routes registered with the Traffic Commissioner has fallen by 21 per cent since 2006. Since 2007, the number of journeys taken by bus in Scotland is down by 74m – an astounding 15 per cent drop.

On current prices, local bus fares have jumped by 18 per cent over the past five years. Despite these price hikes, a staggering £2.6bn in public subsidies has been handed to bus firms in Scotland since 2006/07.

The petition is open until 20 December and will be considered by the Parliament’s petitions committee in the New Year. You can sign here. 

 
In the last week, campaigners in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee have all shown support for the Haud the Bus campaign, including members of Unite Community’s Dundee Branch, the Get Glasgow Moving campaign for better transport, and members of Unite’s branch at Lothian Buses.