SCOTLAND’S GREAT BUS BETRAYAL

Ticket prices soar as operators rake in millions Billions in subsidies but routes still plummet Call for major shake-up of how network is run

A FIFTH of Scotland’s bus routes have been axed over the last decade, The Sunday Post can reveal.

Fed-up passengers are being hit with inflation-busting fare rises as service levels across the country plummet – yet the big operators are still cashing in.

A Post investigation into the crisis-hit bus industry has uncovered:

The number of bus routes registered with the Traffic Commissioner has fallen by 21% since 2006.

Since 2007, the number of journeys taken by bus in Scotland is down by 74 million – a 15% drop.

On current prices, local bus fares have jumped by 18% over the past five years.

A staggering £2.6 billion in public subsidies has been handed to bus firms in Scotland since 2006/07, fuelling healthy profits made by the likes of Stagecoach and First.

Critics last night called for a major shake-up of how bus services are run in Scotland.

Labour’s transport spokesman Neil Bibby said: “It is unacceptable that big bus companies have been hiking fares at the same time as cutting crucial routes to maximise their own profits.

“This cannot possibly represent value for money.

“Under this government, there has been a decade of decline in bus services across the country. The deregulated market clearly isn’t working for passengers and the status quo is not an option.

“We should be putting passengers first and fixing the broken bus market. With re-regulation and more power over routes and fares, we can get a better deal from the bus operators.

“Instead of ‘siding’ with the big bus companies, it’s about time the SNP started standing up for passengers in Scotland.”

All public bus routes in Scotland need to be registered with UK Government body, The Traffic Commissioner.

Figures obtained by The Sunday Post show 3184 routes were registered in 2006/07 but this tally has been steadily falling, with just 2526 routes filed with the transport quango in 2014/15.

In addition, 414 million bus journeys were made last year according to Transport Scotland, 15% fewer than in 2007/08 and a rate of decline that’s 10 times greater than the comparable UK-wide figures.

Coupled with the reducing service, fare rises have also rapidly outstripped the low rates of inflation of recent years.

On current prices, local bus fares have jumped by 18% over the past five years, with the average fare now £1.53.

Recent research by Citizens Advice Scotland found prices also varied substantially across Scotland’s bus routes, ranging from 7p to £1.80 per mile.

The consumer group’s research found 38% of locations it surveyed had no Sunday service that connected them with hospitals, while in remote rural areas the cost of a return ticket to the nearest job centre was £9.

John McCormick, chairman of Scottish Association for Public Transport, said: “It can be a vicious cycle where passenger numbers begin dropping, so the operators put up prices to try and make up the shortfall and it puts off even more people.

“The whole issue merits a serious investigation by the Government because the statistics tell the story – we are losing people from our bus services who we may never get back.

“We have long argued that a lack of genuine integration on public transport is one of the reasons people are put off using modes such as buses. The whole network is fragmented and the legislation as it stands, gets in the way of more integration.”

Private bus firms, and the publically-owned Lothian Buses