Bring buses into public ownership
The Scottish Greens have called for action to bring bus services into public control as part of the upcoming Scottish budget.
This would include funding for regional transport authorities to take their proposals for local ownership to the next stage.
Earlier this week the Greens called for free bus travel in Scotland to be extended to everyone under 30. This would build on the huge success of the 250 million journeys by those under 22 since the Scottish Greens secured free bus travel for everyone in that age group.
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer said:
“Young people and their families have saved a fortune since the Greens introduced free bus travel for everyone under 22. It has also been a big boost for local bus services that were struggling to recover from the COVID pandemic.
“Free fares only work for people if they have buses to get on though. That’s why the Scottish Greens want to see more buses brought back into public control. These services must be run for people, not profit.
“Scotland’s fragmented and often unreliable bus services are geared towards extracting money from passengers, councils and government and handing it to company directors and shareholders. Providing a decent service for our communities comes a distant second.
“The bus companies have no incentive to cooperate to ensure that every community gets the services they need. Their only priority is grabbing the most profitable routes for themselves - and swallowing as much as they can in government subsidies.
“It doesn’t need to be this way. Public ownership is already working. In Edinburgh, council-owned Lothian Buses delivers the best bus service in the UK, and has returned millions to public funds.
“This budget is an opportunity for the Scottish Government to expand free fares, but also to make progress towards bringing our buses back into public ownership.
“Privatising the bus services has not worked. It’s time to end this 40 year long Thatcherite experiment and bring the bus network back under public control for good.”