SNP ministers accused of neglecting Scotland’s bus network at the expense of railways and roads
MINISTERS have been accused of neglecting Scotland’s bus network at the expense of railways and trunk roads.
Analysis revealed there had been “no significant investment” in schemes including priority lanes since 2007 — except one botched fast-track project.
It showed the SNP Government support for bus services now stands at “roughly £60million per year” — “far less” than the £417million invested in the ScotRail franchise in 2019-20.
The gulf comes despite figures revealing buses carry 388million passengers every year compared with ScotRail’s 97.8million.
Greens MSP John Finnie insisted buses should be part of an “integrated public transport network”.
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He said: “Instead, they have suffered years of neglect from governments and run for profit by private operators.
"This is particularly bad in rural settings where whole communities are barely served.”
Trunk road investment was up from around £400million in 1999 to nearly £1billion.
But bus totals plunged from £310million in 2007-08 to £270million in 2018-19, the independent Scottish Parliament Information Centre said.
Around £40million was paid from 2011 for Glasgow’s bungled “Fastlink” scheme between the city centre, SEC and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
But bus fares have rocketed 78.3 per cent in real terms — as motoring costs fell 24.7 per cent.
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The SPICE study claimed there was a clear link between “investment of far smaller sums in buses” and their “decline or stagnation”.
It added: “This poses a major challenge for the next 20 years, during which the Scottish Government’s committed to almost complete decarbonisation of transport.”
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: “The programme for government included a commitment of more than £500million for bus priority measures.”
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