On the buses with Labour... Scot free

FREE bus travel for all was unveiled by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard as the main policy announcement of his conference speech.

He promised that if Labour came to power at Holyrood it would initially offer free bus travel to all under the age of 25, costing the taxpayer an estimated £13.5 million a year.

And he pledged that within five to ten years councils would be told to set up municipal bus services offering universal free travel – and driving private firms off the road.

Mr Leonard also claimed that to make bus travel popular again he would force councils to re-open routes closed for economic reasons. Meanwhile, Scottish Labour wants the SNP’s Transport Bill now going through Holyrood to give councils the power to cap ticket prices and stop private companies closing routes.

Labour has not worked out the cost of a universal free bus service, nor how many routes should be brought back into service.

But it points to research by KPMG suggesting that for every £1 spent on concessionary bus travel there is a £3 benefit to passengers and the wider economy. Mr Leonard said: ‘Across the country, the number of routes has gone down while the cost of fares has gone up. Communities, particularly in rural areas, have been left stranded. The deregulation of bus services has failed us.

‘We believe that clean, affordable and reliable bus services are the mark of a civilised nation so, when the Transport Bill arrives in Holyrood later this year, we will fight to change the law to put our bus services back in public hands.’

But the SNP last night said Scottish Labour could not be trusted to run public services. Its Dundee City East MSP Shona Robison said: ‘Labour are completely out of touch. They’re more interested in fighting each other than fighting for the people of Scotland.’