MSPs to debate bringing buses in major city back into public ownership

MSPs are set to debate whether buses in a major Scottish city should be brought back into public ownership.

The Scottish Greens are set to use a Members’ Business debate on Thursday to call on the Scottish Government to support the expansion of publicly owned bus services in Glasgow.

The party said doing so would deliver cheaper fares and more reliable and high-quality services.

Whilst local authorities in Scotland have the power to bring bus services in-house, the Greens said the Scottish Government had made this process “complicated and slow”.

The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) – the largest of Scotland’s seven regional transport partnerships, responsible for coordinating public transport – recently consulted the public on their plans to either commission or run bus services in Glasgow.

However, campaigners have raised concerns about ongoing delays and the lack of funding available.

Ahead of the debate, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “Glasgow deserves world-class public transport, but everyone who uses it can see that it’s confusing, expensive and unreliable. Fares have increased, routes have been cut, and passengers have been left stranded.

Patrick Harvie MSP “But if we had publicly owned bus companies we’d deliver great results for communities.

“You just have to look at Lothian buses in Edinburgh – over the last decade, they’ve paid back a £36 million dividend to the Council that runs them. That’s the norm in many parts of Europe, and cities like Manchester have made great progress in recent years too.

“So why shouldn’t we be running our own buses here in Glasgow?”

Harvie added: “The Scottish Greens have a track record of making public transport cheaper for people across Scotland. We delivered free bus travel for young people under the age of 22 and were the first to scrap peak rail fares.

“Bus fares should be cheap or free for everyone, all the time. But without reliable, accessible and integrated buses even free travel won’t get you very far.

“Councils desperately need the power to plan the routes they need and cap fares. But that’s only the first step – from there we need to properly support new publicly owned operators.

“If we get this right, Glasgow and the wider region can achieve better buses for everyone. Glasgow deserves nothing less.”