January 19.
In his letter Mr Macdonald asks about possible changes to
concessionary travel in Strathclyde in view of the proposed reform of
local government (January 15).
The current concessionary travel scheme operates regionwide with a
budget of approximately #18m. Participating operators receive
compensation based on the difference between what would have been paid
in the absence of the scheme and their income for a concessionary fare
of 25p for 10 miles of travel. It would substantially erode the benefits
and purposes of the scheme if travel were to be restricted to the areas
relating to the new unitary authorities. If each unitary authority had
its own scheme, the purpose of the scheme would be largely lost in many
areas and there would be considerable confusion to the public and bus
operators alike, bearing in mind the likely differences in benefits
which would emerge.
This could be particularly stressful if one considers the large
numbers of more vulnerable people being served by the scheme. In
addition, the oncost to bus operators, who would be required to deal
with a large number of authorities, would be significant; differences in
practices and in reimbursement arrangements would inevitably give rise
to conflict.
The supporting administrative arrangements would be much less economic
and efficient and indeed the administrative complexity could deter some
authorities from implementing anything other than a token scheme.
Malcolm Waugh,
Chair, Roads and
Transportation Committee,
Strathclyde Regional Council,
20 India Street,
Glasgow.
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