SNP ‘bus betrayal’ petition
A PETITION is calling for a shakeup of Scotland’s crisis-hit bus services.
The country’s largest union, Unite, is about to launch a campaign to preserve vital bus services.
It has accused SNP ministers of doing less to support bus regulation than the Tories in England.
A Bill is going through Westminster which will give English councils similar controls over local services as Transport for London.
The SNP dropped a commitment to bus re-regulation just before it first took office in 2007 and is now under pressure to take action.
The Sunday Post revealed in August that a fifth of Scotland’s bus routes have been axed over the last decade.
Unite Scottish secretary, Pat Rafferty, said: “We’re in a bizarre situation where the Tories in England are doing more on bus regulation than the Scottish Government.
“We believe regulation has the support of the majority in Scotland and will call on the Scottish Parliament to bring forward re-regulation legislation and to look at ways of bringing services into common ownership.”
He added: “The Sunday Post has done great work showing the extent of the problems with bus services.
“Now is the time for our parliament to take action.”
Unite’s “Haud the Bus” campaign has been battling against service cuts in North Lanarkshire and Glasgow. The union will now takes this work nationwide as well as submitting a petition to Holyrood in the coming weeks.
Labour’s transport spokesman, Neil Bibby, accused the SNP of missing the bus.
He said: “Having been so vocal in opposition, they have overseen a decade of decline in services.”
A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: “Transport Minister Humza Yousaf has outlined plans for a bill with a focus on the bus sector.
“We have invested nearly a quarter of a billion pounds every year in support of services, concessionary travel and incentives for the take-up of greener vehicles.
“We also provide £200m through the national concessionary travel scheme to give 1.3 million older and disabled people free bus travel, while providing funding for local authorities to deliver £60m a year to support services.”