WE arrived back from Poland on Wednesday this week, landing at Glasgow Airport and discovering not for the first time that Scotland possesses a public transport system worthy of a Third World country.
With the Subway off, we were presented with the problem: how could we find a bus that took us to Kelvingrove Art Gallery? We eventually did, but only after long walks to several and many stops in Argyle Street and Hope Street, each with minimal or no bus stop information.
Then to Central Station, to find our 1507 Abellio ScotRail train to Aberdeen was cancelled without notice due to signalling problems at Polmadie: fair enough, one might adduce, for such problems occur on the best-run railways. But there was no information, no announcement beyond the word “Cancelled” on the destination screen.
I phoned a friend in ScotRail, and only thanks to his help, we were directed to the 1500 Virgin Trains Glasgow Central-Bristol service via Edinburgh, changing at Haymarket to an Abellio ScotRail local train from Haymarket to Dundee (“Local train”? Spot the difference between a “local” and “express” ScotRail train. One is as shoddy, shabby, outdated, noisy and inadequate as the other).
This hadn’t been my first visit to Poland, so not for the first time did I savour a litter-free land of enviable art collections, good food, music, courteous people … and above all, a public transport system of modern trains and trams. cheap and simple and easy to use. Cycling is encouraged, as is transport of bikes on trains.
By contrast, we in Scotland suffer an unconnected, unlinked transport system with rolling stock redolent of a land stuck in the Depression of the 1930s … and don’t even think of trying to take your bike on a train.
Which Scottish Government minister will stand up and do something?
Gordon Casely,
Westerton Cottage,
Crathes,
Kincardineshire.
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