Professor David Gray, head of the Centre for Transport Policy at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said those living outside Scotland’s towns and cities had seen little benefit from the policy of giving free bus passes to over 60s and disabled passengers due to a shortage of services.
Writing in The Herald today, he suggests a better use of public funds would be to give direct subsidy to people to pay for taxis or petrol for car journeys.
Arguing that concessionary travel has “undoubtedly” benefited urban passengers, he writes: “In contrast, members of remote, rural and island households who do not own a car will make up to 50% more journeys by car than bus, either through choice or necessity”.
Subsidising this car use would provide better value for money and reach more people, argues Mr Gray. This could include the use of smart cards, weighted by postcode, ensuring that money is paid directly to people to use cars in the form of an “accessibility allowance”.
“A direct subsidy would ultimately provide far better value for money than previous efforts to support rural transport, which has funded the running of empty buses around the countryside or supported demand responsive schemes that have required start-up subsidies of more than £50 per passenger journey,” he writes.
Ministers have pledged to support the concessionary travel scheme, which was introduced in 2006, despite warnings that access to it would have to be curtailed if it was to be affordable in the long term.
However, a number of transport experts have viewed post-election curbs on the scheme as inevitable, given the squeeze on public finances and Scotland’s ageing population.
That view was given added weight last week when Professor Iain Docherty, a non-executive director of Government agency Transport Scotland, argued for limiting the accessibility criteria to rule out commuters aged 60-65 – a reform already introduced south of the border.
“We probably do not want to subsidise the famous man in a suit who is over 60 and commutes to work for free, because that is perhaps not the best use of public funds in a time of straitened financial resources, particularly if that person continues to make 90% of his other journeys by car, for example,” he told the Scottish Parliament’s transport committee.
Mr Gray’s comments come as research from the Scottish Government shows the public still view bus journeys as unreliable, unsafe and too lengthy, despite attempts to shift commuters out of their cars.
The report by the Government’s Scottish Centre for Social Research found that people in employment who do not currently use the bus are unlikely to consider it as a means of getting to work. They were slightly more likely to consider it for social trips but still found it less convenient than a car, the researchers found.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The concessionary fares scheme has been a widespread success, bringing free travel to elderly and disabled people across Scotland.
“That’s why this Government decided to extend it so those injured veterans who have served our country so bravely will be able to enjoy the benefits of free bus travel from spring 2011.
“Older and disabled people will continue to be able to travel for free throughout Scotland.”
