‘MODEL’ SERVICE

ONE of Scotland’s most successful bus services is in Edinburgh, where operator Lothian Buses is council-owned.

It is the UK’s largest municipal bus company and the only publiclyowned service in Scotland.

Bucking the long-term decline in the number of bus journeys undertaken across Scotland, Lothian Buses added an extra two million passengers in 2015.

Scotland’s Public Transport Operator of the Year, Lothian Buses is run at arm’s length from the council and regularly tops UK customer satisfaction surveys. Last year an independent survey found 94% of passengers were satisfied with the company’s overall service.

Transport minister Humza Yousaf has hinted at a shake-up in the bus industry, saying he was keen to see what the rest of Scotland could learn from Lothian Buses.

The operator pumps most of its profits into new buses, adding an £8 million fleet of 32 “Green” buses last year alone.

However, it also returned a £2.5 million dividend to its majority shareholder, Edinburgh Council, last year, and a further £844,000 to prop up the city’s fledgling tram line.