Peak time fares on ScotRail services should be scrapped as they are a "tax on workers", a leading transport union has claimed.
Passengers travelling before 9.30am on weekdays still face paying steep ticket prices despite the rise of homeworking upending the traditional rush hour commute.
ASLEF - which represents train drivers across the country - is now calling on SNP ministers to offer greater incentives to Scots to ditch their cars in favour of public transport.
Finance secretary Kate Forbes will set out the Scottish Government's draft budget for the year ahead on Thursday and faces increasing pressure to prioritise green technologies in the wake of COP26.
ASLEF says support for the railways is crucial at a time when passenger numbers have slumped due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time the number of private car journeys has soared despite being a major cause of pollution.
Dutch firm Abellio currently operate ScotRail services but their contract ends in March when the network will be effectively renationalised.
Kevin Lindsay, ASLEF's Scottish organiser, told the Record: "This budget comes hot on the heels of COP26 and is the first big test of how committed the Scottish Government is to meeting its climate targets.
"The truth is that Scotland will never meet its environmental obligations if it fails to invest properly in passenger and freight rail services.
"The message from COP26 was loud and clear. Climate change now represents a code red for humanity. The world must reduce global emissions and all countries have to play their part.
"Rail services are by some way the cleanest mode of transport with the least emissions, notwithstanding walking and cycling.
"As a union representing train drivers, we want to see the electrification of rail carrying modern, clean affordable trains to an expanded network of stations serving Scotland’s communities and shift passengers and freight from roads to rail.
"Investing in rail by making fares more affordable, ending the threat to services, improving accessibility and growing freight infrastructure is of huge importance if we are to take the climate action required.
"The rhetoric of ministers who say they want to move people and goods onto rail must be matched by investment and action on the ground."
Lindsay continued: "That is why ASLEF has demanded the Scottish Government deliver a budget to ‘get Scotland back on track'".
The union is calling on the Scottish Government to:
● Freeze ticket prices and abolish peak fares that are a de facto tax on workers
● Introduce free travel for pensioners and under-24s
● End the threatened cuts to services and jobs with a drive to get passenger numbers back to pre-pandemic levels
● Invest in freight by increasing the capacity of current hubs, twinning tracking the line north of Perth and building new capacity across the country
The Record has asked the Scottish Government for comment.
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