BUS passengers in Scotland face paying 10% more for journeys this year as firms are squeezed by Government funding cuts and soaring fuel costs, an industry-funded report has warned.
The latest hike is expected to result in a drop in passenger numbers and more unprofitable routes being axed or scaled back to cut costs, according to transport consultancy TAS.
Its bleak prediction came ahead of a Parliamentary debate today in which MSPs will demand a reversal of a 20% cut in the Bus Service Operators' Grant (BSOG), which provides firms with a discount on the fuel they use.
TAS found bus fares had increased by nearly 10% over the last two years, slightly behind inflation, and the average fare in Scotland was around £1.70 – 21p cheaper than the UK average.
The hikes coincided with a drop in passenger numbers, with 438 million passenger journeys made in Scotland in the 2010/11 financial year, down 6% on the previous year. Buses still carry more than five times as many passengers in Scotland as trains.
Steve Warburton, one of the report's authors, said he expected fares in Scotland to be around four to five percentage points above December's inflation rate as operators sought to recover higher operating costs.
However, he said the situation was better than in England.
"We do think there will be a drop in passenger numbers due to resistance to fare increases but this will be offset to an extent in Scotland by funding for concessionary travel," he said.
Scottish Government funding for the bus industry is due to drop from £255 million this year to £249m for 2012/13 and will be frozen for a further two years, though the drop in BSOG has been partially offset by funding for the concessionary travel scheme, which provides free bus journeys to elderly and disabled passengers, as well as veterans.
The Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, which represents more than 1000 bus and coach firms, said: "Like our colleagues in England, Scottish operators are facing a 20% cut in BSOG and, due to the capped concessionary scheme budget, will not receive the agreed level of reimbursement for carrying concessionary passengers.
"Operators faced with cuts of this magnitude, particularly in a period of economic downturn, will have to consider fare levels and service cuts. The industry in Scotland is innovative and enduring and will continue to work on providing attractive and affordable services and growing passenger numbers."
Labour MSP Richard Baker said the BSOG cut was "bad news" for passengers adding: "A rise in bus fares will hurt the people who can least afford it. The decision also threatens bus services on which many communities across Scotland depend.
"It has resulted in fares in Aberdeen rising by on average 8.5% and, with fares likely to rise elsewhere, this creates a further barrier to public transport."
However, Transport Minister Keith Brown said it had maintained funding despite Westminster cuts. He added: "We would expect the bus industry in Scotland to act responsibly whenever they are looking to set bus fares."
Mr Brown said a change in the BSOG system in April, which sees funding for the mileage of services rather than fuel used, would encourage efficiency and benefit rural areas.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article