Part of Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:00 pm on 13 June 2024.
Fiona Hyslop
Scottish National Party
2:00,
13 June 2024
I recognise that the fire that caused the disruption was not the responsibility of anybody but those who caused the fire, and that the consequences of that are being met by a load of different organisations.
Carol Mochan’s point about how we can help with having anchor towns in relation to public sector transport modal shift is an interesting segue from rail, but I get it. That—ensuring that we support modal hubs for buses and trains—is the main focus of the work that we are trying to do with our transport strategy.
We have a deregulated bus system. This Government brought in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 and the subsequent legislation to allow regional transport partnerships the choice to take different positions. However, as Carol Mochan will be aware, her party did not, when it was last in power, make any changes to the deregulated position, which means that there has to be partnership working with private bus companies, which are responsible for the vast Majority of the services that are provided.
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