A proposed Scottish flat fare trial to increase passenger numbers has been cancelled because of lack of money and opposition from operators, Scottish Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop has told MSPs. The scheme was a key recommendation of the Scottish Government’s ‘Fair Fares’ review last year, aimed at growing public transport use. However, it has now been confirmed that funding for the scheme has not been included in the 2024-25 Scottish Budget because of pressures on the Scottish Government’s finances.
The Transport Secretary said: “I was keen that we did have a pilot but it proved particularly problematic last year because of the emergency [financial] measures. Anything that was new or additional was very difficult to get financial approval for. “There are challenges with a pilot because, as we know, if you have a pilot and don’t continue it, that can cause issues from a passenger perspective. The bus companies themselves are less than enthusiastic. There isn’t provision currently in this Budget for a pilot on a fare cap, although the vast majority of fares in Scotland are under £3.”
Launched in 2021, the recommendations were published in March last year. The report promised to ‘develop a proposal for a bus flat fares pilot for an area-based scheme to provide flat fares on bus travel, or reduced fares on zonal integrated travel for consideration in future budgets.’
Colin Howden, Director of sustainable transport campaigner group Transform Scotland, told The Scotsman newspaper: “The Fair Fares review has been a complete failure. First, the peak fares removal on ScotRail was abandoned prematurely. Now, the plans for the flat fare ticketing trial – the other main output from the review – has also been ditched. Flat fare public transport ticketing has proven a success across Europe, so it’s deeply disappointing that this is not being taken forward.
“Meanwhile, public transport fares continue to rise ahead of the price of motoring, and traffic and emissions levels continue to rise.” CPT Scotland director Paul White responded by countering the suggestion that operators had not welcomed the scheme: “We reject the claim the bus sector is ‘unenthusiastic’ about an area-based flat fares pilot,” he said.
“The concept has been dropped before any proposals about how such a scheme would operate have been shared with bus operators. The effectiveness and value of further fares subsidy, on top of Scotland’s two existing concessionary travel schemes, is debatable, but this decision does represent a further roll back on commitments designed to increase bus use.
“If new or additional measures cannot be funded, CPT urges government to boost existing levers such as the network support grant to enable the sector to grow the bus network and consider fares reductions directly.”
