Are SPT's days numbered?

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport is the remnant of the hybrid organisation that emerged indirectly from the demise of regional government in Scotland in 1996. The body we know today was born in 2005 and became one of the seven regional partnerships responsible for transport strategy. But it has always stood out from the rest. Though shorn of much of its predecessor’s remit, SPT remains a large and powerful body with a budget of close to £50 million. And it continues to own and operate the Glasgow subway as well as the major bus stations.

With public sector reform and value for money now high on the political agenda, it is hardly surprising that the spotlight has fallen on SPT. Last year several councillors and officials resigned after a string of revelations about travel expenses and junketing. There was also criticism of large payments to consultants. Compared with other regional partnerships, it appeared bloated.

In fairness, under the chairmanship of Councillor Jonathan Findlay, savings of £3m have been achieved in less than 18 months. Also, if SPT did not exist, a similar body would need to be invented to take its place. In a metropolitan region where the population travels for work and leisure across a dozen or more council areas, it is necessary to have an agency charged with strategic planning, integrating regional transport services and generally batting on behalf of the travelling public.

From the outside, SPT is a strange creature. While not running the buses, it manages four bus stations and maintains 11,000 bus stops. And, though the running of the suburban rail network transferred to Transport Scotland in 2005, SPT continues to deliver strategic rail projects, such as the new park and ride scheme at Croy. Among other responsibilities, it also runs school buses and encourages car-sharing, cycling and walking. If Scotland is to aspire to the sort of seamless integrated public transport systems enjoyed by many European cities, such bodies are needed to push through innovation and bang heads together.

In The Herald today Stuart Patrick, head of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, says the west of Scotland is held back by deficiencies in its transport infrastructure. Indeed, Scotland as a whole has a miserable track record when it comes to delivering major transport projects.

The Glasgow and Edinburgh airport rail links, Crossrail, the Fastlink bus service intended to whoosh thousands of spectators to the 2014 Commonwealth Games, as well as patients to the new Southern General Hospital: it is one long story of escalating costs, cancellations and delay. Without major investment to attract more passengers, Glasgow’s subway risks sinking into a spiral of decline. Meanwhile the saga of the Edinburgh trams project drags on, with the appointment yesterday of a new company to run the project.

Compare all these tales of woe with a country like France where urban authorities have the spending and decision-making powers to deliver their own transport projects, without needing to go cap in hand to the central government.

SPT may be a suitable case for treatment but there is clearly a political dimension to this story. With the SNP ramping up its campaign in the west of Scotland in advance of the 2012 municipal elections, a body with its roots in what was once regarded as a Labour fiefdom, was always going to be vulnerable.