GOVERNMENT ministers have "no idea" how reliable Scotland's bus services and are treating passengers as "second-class citizens", Green Party MSP Patrick Harvie has claimed.
In response to a parliamentary question tabled by Mr Harvie, Transport Minister Keith Brown said information on punctuality was not collected by the Scottish Government and there was no data allowing passengers to compare services from different firms.
This is despite widescale surveys of passengers being carried out in England and Wales by Passenger Focus, which has no responsibility for bus users north of the Border, Mr Harvie said.
"It is essential the profit-driven private operators who have a stranglehold on Glasgow's buses yet who receive public subsidy are forced to be less tardy.
"It's appalling the Government has no way of telling us whether targets are being met, nor which companies are the worst offenders," he said.
A spokesman for the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, which represents the majority of bus and coach firms, conceded there was no national survey undertaken on punctuality.
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