... as fifth of all bus services face the axe!

COMMUTERS are facing fresh misery as a fifth of bus services could be axed if the Scottish Government fails to extend essential funding this summer.

A £40million fund aimed at keeping buses running despite lower passenger numbers during the pandemic is expected to end in July and the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) fears that 20 per cent of Scotland’s bus network could be cut once the money runs out.

The industry representative for the bus and coach sector has now written to all MSPs warning that a failure to extend the Network Support Grant funding would result in ‘shrinking bus networks...with the biggest risk to weekend and evening services nationally, service cuts in rural areas and less frequent services in urban areas’.

It added that the loss of the funding would also risk a hike in fares, bus depot closures and fewer lowcarbon buses as operators face ‘surging costs in fuel, energy, maintenance, and staff costs, along with suppressed passenger numbers’.

Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson, who raised the issue at Holyrood yesterday, said: ‘All the CPT are asking for is a three-month extension of funding to enable passenger numbers to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

‘That’s a perfectly reasonable request – especially in the week when Audit Scotland are reporting that the SNP Government have more than £2billion in unspent Covid funding.

‘The alternative is that passengers, particularly in rural areas, are left without public transport options – and this at a time when ministers are trying to persuade people to ditch their cars.’

Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth said: ‘I have asked Transport Scotland to see what we might be able to do to support rural bus services.’