FMQs: Scottish Greens call for First Minister’s backing on £2 bus fare cap
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer MSP has urged John Swinney to immediately expand the £2 bus fare cap secured by Green MSPs for the Highlands and islands.
Ross also called for the Scottish Government to bring Scotland’s bus network back into public ownership.
Ross Greer MSP asked the First Minister
“I was pleased during the election campaign to meet people across the Highlands and islands who are now saving a fortune thanks to the £2 bus fare cap secured by the Scottish Greens through negotiations with the Government.
“Someone commuting from Elgin to Inverness today is saving £16.80 a day on that journey.
“Expanding this £2 cap nationwide was in both the Green and SNP manifestos - in our case as a transitional step towards universal free bus travel.
“With the school holidays coming up and families looking for affordable days out when the cost of petrol is skyrocketing, expanding this cap should be a top priority for the Government.
“Does the First Minister agree with the Scottish Greens that more families should be able to enjoy £2 bus fares this summer?”
Responding to the question, First Minister John Swinney said that he agreed with the Greens’ proposition and that is why the SNP included it in their manifesto. He also said that his priority is to roll the Greens’ proposal out in the West of Scotland.
In his follow-up question, Ross asked the First Minister:
“Forty years after Thatcher privatised the bus network many communities just don’t have the services they need.
“Fare prices have gone up but routes have disappeared, leaving people isolated and holding our economy back.
“At the same time a handful of private bus company owners have become obscenely rich.
“Some have made so much money from being bus company operators that they can afford to set fire to a pile of their own cash by writing hundred grand cheques to the Scottish Labour Party.
“The Scottish Greens proposed bringing our buses back into public ownership through a bus bonds scheme.
“But the SNP manifesto was silent on ownership.
“Does the First Minister not agree that it's time to end the failed experiment of privatised buses?
“And will he work with the Scottish Greens to bring Scotland’s bus services back under public control?”
In response to Mr Greer’s questions the First Minister indicated that the Strathclyde region would be prioritised for the next stage of the £2 cap and expressed his sympathy for the Greens’ proposals for public ownership of bus services.