>EXCLUSIVE: Bus passengers in England enjoy capped fares but no such scheme has been introduced in Scotland.
>A £2 cap on bus fares in Scotland would save commuters hundreds of pounds and transform access to local services, the Scottish Greens have said.
>The party has called for the SNP Government to pilot such a move as part of the forthcoming budget in order to make public transport more affordable and protect routes across the country.
>A similar policy has been in place in England since 2023, with single journeys capped at £2, saving regular commuters hundreds of pounds.
>The Greens argue a cap on fares would build on the success of free bus travel for Scots under-22 and has resulted in 730,000 young people taking 140 million journeys since it was introduced in 2022.
>Ruskell said: “By capping the price of bus travel we can open up our country and transform access to local bus services.
>”A £2 fare cap would allow people to make journeys they are currently priced-out of while supporting workers and regular commuters, as well as people visiting friends and families.
>”If we are to cut the cost of living and encourage people to leave their cars at home then we need to reduce the cost of public transport. This would have a huge benefit for people travelling between towns and cities, where the cost is often too high.
>
>”When the Scottish Greens removed peak rail fares we got more people onto our trains and helped workers and students in a cost-of-living crisis. I am confident that a bus fare cap would do the same.
>
>”I hope that the Scottish Government learns from the rollout of the bus fare cap in England and that they will introduce it as a central part of the upcoming Scottish Budget.
>
>”The introduction of free bus travel for young people has been one of the proudest achievements of devolution. It has created a whole new generation of bus users, but for some the price cliff when they lose their bus pass is huge. A fare cap would help keep people on the buses when they have to start paying.
>
>”By introducing a fare cap we can build on that success, cut pollution and deliver cleaner, greener and more affordable transport for all.”
>
>The price cap in England is delivered through voluntary agreement with bus operators, with central government reimbursing operators for the difference between the price cap and the commercial fare.
>
>It comes after the Poverty Alliance urged the SNP Government to support more councils to bring buses back under local control.
>
>MSPs will this week debate a public petition which calls for the re-regulation of buses to be made a priority after years of fare hikes and routes being axed.
>
>Peter Kelly, Poverty Alliance chief executive, said: “People on low incomes tell us buses are too dear, too unreliable, and don’t meet their needs.”
>
>A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “Ministers are committed to building as broad support as possible across Parliament in order to deliver the forthcoming budget. Engagement with all parties is ongoing ahead of the draft budget being set out in the Scottish Parliament on 4 December.
>“In relation to introducing a £2 fare cap, we are starting from a different position than England. Scotland-wide schemes offer free bus travel to a larger percentage of the population than schemes elsewhere in the UK.
>
>”Currently, in Scotland, the statutory National Concessionary Travel Schemes for bus provide unlimited nationwide free travel to all children and young people under 22, eligible disabled people, and everyone aged 60 and over. The scheme’s allocated budget in 2024-25 is £370 million. The average single bus fare in Scotland is below £3.”
For reasons known only to themselves, Labour hiked the English bus fare cap to help fund the fuel duty freeze. Free or discounted bus travel is often painted as outlandish or unaffordable, but the cost of freezing fuel duty [was about the same as the annual bus fare take in England](https://x.com/joncstone/status/1851659319575826627). Subsidising drivers is always “affordable”.
> The price cap in England is delivered through voluntary agreement with bus operators, with central government reimbursing operators for the difference between the price cap and the commercial fare.
The issue here is that bus operators are already incentivised to hike up single fares through the concession system, since the number of passengers actually paying a single fare is getting lower and lower [if you don’t have a concessionary card you probably buy all-day tickets or other longer tickets]. This isn’t an issue in England and Wales afaik, because as I understand it they’re reimbursed based on the _average_ fare rather than the adult single fare, so they don’t have this same incentive. If the single fare cap is implemented in the same way in Scotland, it would be considerably more expensive because of a loophole that the Scottish Government has consistently refused to close.
I think at least half of all drivers (myself included) wouldn’t use the bus even if it was free…
That won’t help, people are so time starved that cost is only part of the issue
If the bus takes 45 minutes and I have driven it in 15-20 then the bust might as well no exist. Same with the train. I have the car already, I’m paying all those costs either way, £5-6 in petrol and a couple quid parking is worth the freedom to come and go when I want and not have to worry about my transport turning up.
It’s not the cost of buses that puts me off. It’s the fact they are sporadic, the routes take absolutely ages to get where you want to, they are slow and often full of bams.
Virtually nobody is put off using a bus because it‘s £2.50 rather than £2 or whatever. It’s a non-issue.
What really matters across public transport is frequency, co-ordinated services, having routes near you, and decent quality buses to travel on.
The £2 cap in England just led to councils cutting back on bus services because they were losing even more money on them. They are all supportive of removing the cap.
If Scotland introduces this (they won’t) all you would be doing is throwing money down a drain which you could instead be investing in supporting routes and services.
I don’t care about the ticket being cheaper. I care about the companies being accountable for missing scheduled times.
From where I live it’s 16 miles to the local town. It’s £7.50 return per adult and £4 for a kid. It costs me £19 if I wanna go through with my family. Plus there’s only one every 2 hours and it takes 55 minutes to get there.
Or I can drive and spend about £5 total on fuel and at tops, 20 mins driving.
They could make them free and I still wouldn’t use them.
They’re slow, unreliable and full of inconsiderate cunts.
Certainly would encourage me instead of the £12 to go 4 stops to the nearest settlement, £18 4 more stops to the settlement after that, or through to the hospital in Aberdeen at £27.
In Glasgow, you often have to tell the driver where you’re going, just for them to say they don’t know where it is, or that they’re not going there! The bus drivers are nightmares for not knowing there routes
12 comments
>EXCLUSIVE: Bus passengers in England enjoy capped fares but no such scheme has been introduced in Scotland.
>A £2 cap on bus fares in Scotland would save commuters hundreds of pounds and transform access to local services, the Scottish Greens have said.
>The party has called for the SNP Government to pilot such a move as part of the forthcoming budget in order to make public transport more affordable and protect routes across the country.
>A similar policy has been in place in England since 2023, with single journeys capped at £2, saving regular commuters hundreds of pounds.
>The Greens argue a cap on fares would build on the success of free bus travel for Scots under-22 and has resulted in 730,000 young people taking 140 million journeys since it was introduced in 2022.
>Ruskell said: “By capping the price of bus travel we can open up our country and transform access to local bus services.
>”A £2 fare cap would allow people to make journeys they are currently priced-out of while supporting workers and regular commuters, as well as people visiting friends and families.
>”If we are to cut the cost of living and encourage people to leave their cars at home then we need to reduce the cost of public transport. This would have a huge benefit for people travelling between towns and cities, where the cost is often too high.
>
>”When the Scottish Greens removed peak rail fares we got more people onto our trains and helped workers and students in a cost-of-living crisis. I am confident that a bus fare cap would do the same.
>
>”I hope that the Scottish Government learns from the rollout of the bus fare cap in England and that they will introduce it as a central part of the upcoming Scottish Budget.
>
>”The introduction of free bus travel for young people has been one of the proudest achievements of devolution. It has created a whole new generation of bus users, but for some the price cliff when they lose their bus pass is huge. A fare cap would help keep people on the buses when they have to start paying.
>
>”By introducing a fare cap we can build on that success, cut pollution and deliver cleaner, greener and more affordable transport for all.”
>
>The price cap in England is delivered through voluntary agreement with bus operators, with central government reimbursing operators for the difference between the price cap and the commercial fare.
>
>It comes after the Poverty Alliance urged the SNP Government to support more councils to bring buses back under local control.
>
>MSPs will this week debate a public petition which calls for the re-regulation of buses to be made a priority after years of fare hikes and routes being axed.
>
>Peter Kelly, Poverty Alliance chief executive, said: “People on low incomes tell us buses are too dear, too unreliable, and don’t meet their needs.”
>
>A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “Ministers are committed to building as broad support as possible across Parliament in order to deliver the forthcoming budget. Engagement with all parties is ongoing ahead of the draft budget being set out in the Scottish Parliament on 4 December.
>“In relation to introducing a £2 fare cap, we are starting from a different position than England. Scotland-wide schemes offer free bus travel to a larger percentage of the population than schemes elsewhere in the UK.
>
>”Currently, in Scotland, the statutory National Concessionary Travel Schemes for bus provide unlimited nationwide free travel to all children and young people under 22, eligible disabled people, and everyone aged 60 and over. The scheme’s allocated budget in 2024-25 is £370 million. The average single bus fare in Scotland is below £3.”
For reasons known only to themselves, Labour hiked the English bus fare cap to help fund the fuel duty freeze. Free or discounted bus travel is often painted as outlandish or unaffordable, but the cost of freezing fuel duty [was about the same as the annual bus fare take in England](https://x.com/joncstone/status/1851659319575826627). Subsidising drivers is always “affordable”.
> The price cap in England is delivered through voluntary agreement with bus operators, with central government reimbursing operators for the difference between the price cap and the commercial fare.
The issue here is that bus operators are already incentivised to hike up single fares through the concession system, since the number of passengers actually paying a single fare is getting lower and lower [if you don’t have a concessionary card you probably buy all-day tickets or other longer tickets]. This isn’t an issue in England and Wales afaik, because as I understand it they’re reimbursed based on the _average_ fare rather than the adult single fare, so they don’t have this same incentive. If the single fare cap is implemented in the same way in Scotland, it would be considerably more expensive because of a loophole that the Scottish Government has consistently refused to close.
I think at least half of all drivers (myself included) wouldn’t use the bus even if it was free…
That won’t help, people are so time starved that cost is only part of the issue
If the bus takes 45 minutes and I have driven it in 15-20 then the bust might as well no exist. Same with the train. I have the car already, I’m paying all those costs either way, £5-6 in petrol and a couple quid parking is worth the freedom to come and go when I want and not have to worry about my transport turning up.
It’s not the cost of buses that puts me off. It’s the fact they are sporadic, the routes take absolutely ages to get where you want to, they are slow and often full of bams.
Virtually nobody is put off using a bus because it‘s £2.50 rather than £2 or whatever. It’s a non-issue.
What really matters across public transport is frequency, co-ordinated services, having routes near you, and decent quality buses to travel on.
The £2 cap in England just led to councils cutting back on bus services because they were losing even more money on them. They are all supportive of removing the cap.
If Scotland introduces this (they won’t) all you would be doing is throwing money down a drain which you could instead be investing in supporting routes and services.
I don’t care about the ticket being cheaper. I care about the companies being accountable for missing scheduled times.
From where I live it’s 16 miles to the local town. It’s £7.50 return per adult and £4 for a kid. It costs me £19 if I wanna go through with my family. Plus there’s only one every 2 hours and it takes 55 minutes to get there.
Or I can drive and spend about £5 total on fuel and at tops, 20 mins driving.
They could make them free and I still wouldn’t use them.
They’re slow, unreliable and full of inconsiderate cunts.
Certainly would encourage me instead of the £12 to go 4 stops to the nearest settlement, £18 4 more stops to the settlement after that, or through to the hospital in Aberdeen at £27.
In Glasgow, you often have to tell the driver where you’re going, just for them to say they don’t know where it is, or that they’re not going there! The bus drivers are nightmares for not knowing there routes
Comments are closed.