Heard the one about the city that doesn’t own its bus station?

If I had read the story at the start of this month, I would have assumed it was one of those amusing hoax articles which appear in most newspapers on April Fools’

Day.

You know the sort of thing. Elon Musk has flown his own rocket into outer space; Elvis Presley is still alive and owns a fish-and-chip shop in Broxburn; or Liz Truss has written a book.

Hang on, I’ve just done some research and discovered that two of those stories are actually true.

Incredible. Who’d have believed that Liz Truss has actually written a book?

Anyway, I read this week that Edinburgh Bus Station is not owned by the council. It is in fact owned by a pension fund who want to develop the site into housing.

It’s bordering on unbelievable. It what sane world does a city council not own its own bus station? It’s as likely as a herd of wild horses running amok and causing mayhem on the streets of central London. Wait a minute, it seems that happened too.

The problem with privatising or outsourcing essential public services is that some unprincipled owner is going to see the chance of making a quick buck out of selling them off.

Obviously, Edinburgh Bus Station is in a prime site for real estate, being located next to Harvey Nick’s and sitting within sight of the Golden Turd. Guess what, though. It’s also a prime site for a bus station.

The site is owned by Coal Pension Properties, which manages investments for a coal industry workers’ pension scheme. They do not intend to renew the council’s lease on the property when it expires in 2027.

Little consideration seems to have been given as to where those retired miners are going to be able to catch a bus back to East Lothian in three years’ time. With no obvious options currently available in the city centre, it has been suggested that the facilities could be moved to Ingliston Park and Ride. In other words, you will have to travel a quarter of the way to Glasgow in order to catch the bus to Glasgow.

Are we not supposed to be working towards more sustainable transport? We have the Greens in government, after all. Hold that thought, I’ve just seen the news ....