Rail fees should be revamped as a matter of urgency, a Lanarkshire councillor has claimed.
Robert Brown, who represents Rutherglen South for the Liberal Democrats, believes cheaper train fares would be a huge boost to the battle against climate change.
He feels a Scottish railcard, similar to an existing scheme established for London and the South East of England, would be valuable.
Train fares are due to increase by up to 3.8 per cent as the year goes on.
The proposal backed by Councillor Brown would see anyone eligible for a railcard, and savings of up to a third on tickets as a result.
Those already eligible for railcards, such as people under 25 and pensioners, would see their savings increased as well, rising to half price tickets.
Councillor Brown told Lanarkshire Live: “ Rutherglen station is the busiest rail station in South Lanarkshire and, even after the pandemic, the Glasgow suburban rail network – one of the biggest outside London – is heavily used by many local people, not least for commuting to work.
"Rail prices go up remorselessly and are amongst the highest in Europe. We have the ridiculous position that it can be cheaper to fly within the UK than go by train. It is urgent that action is taken on rail fares if we are to make progress on tackling climate change and tackling emissions.
"Rail ,and indeed bus, travel has to be cheap enough to encourage people to ditch their cars and stop using internal air flights for many journeys in favour of transport which is more climate-friendly."
Plans to introduce a Scottish railcard based on the model already existing in London were recently laid out by Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Councillor Brown added that as most railway journeys inside Scotland are with Scotrail, introducing a new railcard would be straightforward.
He added: "The technology already exists to service the existing rail card schemes. Clearly there is a cost to the public purse but it would be offset by more passengers using the railways – and should be part of the recovery package after Covid."
The upcoming rail fares increase is the highest in almost a decade, and comes as current franchise operator Abellio's contract comes to and end this March
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: "We are always keen to explore new ways to attract passengers onto rail services however initiatives such as this railcard would require significant funding to make them viable.
"As we have said many times recently, we are focused on getting rail back on to a sustainable financial footing. Only then can we start to consider such railcards or similar promotions."