Bus Services

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 19 April 2012.

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Photo of Richard Baker Richard Baker Labour

I find it extraordinary that Mr McDonald refuses to accept that his Government’s actions have contributed to an 8.5 per cent increase in bus fares in Aberdeen. That is hitting the citizens of Aberdeen hard, and his refusal to acknowledge local concerns about the issues is breathtaking. The childish behaviour that we are seeing from Mr McDonald and other SNP members ill serves this debate and those people who have to pay through the nose for their bus services in areas of Aberdeen when they cannot afford to. The behaviour on the benches opposite is disrespectful to them and to Parliament, and is frankly disgraceful.

Why is the Scottish Government as dismissive of these concerns as Mr McDonald seems to be when others from within the SNP have asked it to think again?

The Scottish Government would have us believe that it has nothing to do with this; it is all everyone else’s fault and the bus companies, principally, are to blame. That just does not stand up to any scrutiny at all. Moreover, the horror that the SNP has expressed today at the profits that the bus companies are making has not stopped it taking sizeable donations from Sir Brian Souter.

The fact is that a fuel duty rebate has been in place for bus services since 1965. We have greater fuel subsidy support for operators of other forms of public transport than we do for bus operators. Public transport—including bus services—does require subsidy. Patrick Harvie made good points about that.

The bus service operators grant had already been cut by £6 million from the level originally agreed with operators before it was cut by a further £7 million in the last spending review, bringing the total cut to around 20 per cent, as Elaine Murray said in her excellent opening speech. Yes, there are other financial pressures on bus operators, with rising fuel costs—our motion acknowledges that—which make this the worst possible time to compound the situation with these cuts. Operators are already being disadvantaged by the cap on the costs of the concessionary travel scheme, despite the SNP’s pledge to continue—as we pledged—to fund the scheme in full. That underfunding threatens the future of the scheme.

The minister asked me for figures and I have the Scottish Government’s figures for the concessionary fares budget. In real terms, between 2012 and 2015 there will be a cut of £10 million. I am happy to provide the minister with those figures.