Bus public control proposals are vetoed

Calls by Labour councillors for local bus services to be brought under public control were rejected by an alliance of the SNP and the Tories on a powerful Council Committee last month.

The Community and Enterprise Resources Committee considered the Council’s official response to a Scottish Government consultation on the National Transport Strategy but opposed calls for democratic council control of bus services to be included in the response.

The debate over bus services comes as the Scottish Government was forced to drop long-standing restrictions on councils or councilowned companies running bus services directly.

Labour councillors have argued that the de-regulated bus market is failing communities and that a fair, comprehensive bus network can only be run as a public service, not a private enterpris.

That is why South Lanarkshire Labour tried to amend the Council’s response to the transport consultation.

Councillor Margaret Walker, Labour’s spokeswoman for Community and Enterprise Resources, said:“All across South

Lanarkshire the travelling public are getting a raw deal.

“The government’s own figures show that passenger numbers are tumbling to a record low and that bus routes are being slashed.

“South Lanarkshire’s broken bus market has to be overhauled and replaced with a system of public control – a system that puts passengers in the driving seat, not the owners of the big bus companies.

“It comes as no surprise that the Tories are against us taking on the bus companies but it tells you everything you need to know about where the SNP’s priorities really lie that they were prepared to side with them, against the interests of local passengers.

“The deregulated bus market just isn’t working – it’s not working for communities where levels of car ownership are low, it’s not working for isolated rural areas, it’s not working for young people trying to get to work or college and it’s certainly not working for those older people who might have a bus pass but have hardly any buses to use it on.

“It’s time to change direction entirely and run local bus services for people, not profit.”