PASSENGERS in the west of Scotland are still likely to experience transport cuts despite the approval of a £9 million government rescue package, the head of Glasgow’s subway operator has warned.
Transport Secretary Michael Matheson announced that financial support will be put place for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and Edinburgh Trams from this month to the end of September to ensure services can continue in the face of a continued decline in passengers.
Mr Matheson said both services provided “key connections” within Scotland’s two biggest cities and that any cuts would place unsustainable demands on other modes of transport, particularly buses.
However, while welcoming the funding, Dr Martin Bartos, chairman of SPT, said it failed to cover losses incurred from March to June and “does not recognise the changed landscape which future public transport faces beyond September”.
READ MORE: SPT facing losses of up to £20million which threaten future warns boss
SPT, which also runs a network of bus services, has said it is anticipating losses of between £12.5m and £20m because the majority of its income is sourced from the subway, which experienced a 97 per cent drop in passenger numbers in March in common with other transport providers.
Dr Bartos said: “This funding package is designed to address the losses which SPT now faces from July to September and goes some way towards recognising the important work of SPT bus and subway teams during this global public health emergency to help key workers and public undertake necessary journeys.
“Whilst the announcement today of additional funding is welcome, it fails to cover the losses from March to June and does not recognise the changed landscape which future public transport faces beyond September.
“Without further support addressing the millions of pounds of losses already incurred during lockdown doing as government requested, and without clarity of how additional costs can be managed beyond September, I believe people in the west of Scotland will face future cuts to public transport.”
The Government announced in March that bus operators would be given assistance to maintain essential services, while franchise changes were also put in place to support ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper.
READ MORE: Ferry limits mean Arran hotels may not open until next year
Mr Matheson said the Government would continue to monitor the demand, capacity and cost of all transport providers over the coming months.
He said: “The Glasgow subway and Edinburgh trams provide key connections within our two biggest cities and as we emerge through the stages of lockdown demand for public transport will continue to rise.
“Over the next three months we will provide up to £9m of financial support to operators to enable services to continue.
“Any restrictions on these services could have placed unsustainable demands on other modes, especially buses, and so this funding will assist capacity across all public transport.
“Going forward the subway and tram will help our wider society and economy recover as we emerge through the next phases of easing lockdown.
“We will continue to monitor the demand, capacity and costs of support across all transport modes over the coming months.”
READ MORE: Air pollution spike warning if Scots are not encouraged to get back on trains and buses
Last week, tourism businesses on the Isle of Arran raised concerns that they could remain closed until 2021 amid continuing concern over the lack of ferry capacity serving the island.
CalMac, the state-owned ferry operator, has introduced a new timetable which increased the number of sailings serving the main Ardrossan to Brodick route.
But with the two-metre social distancing rule continuing to constrain passenger numbers, there are fears the additional sailings will not be enough to support the island’s tourism industry.
Transport Scotland said the organisation has worked with CalMac to try and move from the essential lifeline timetable introduced during lockdown to a “shoulder’ timetable by July 15, but said “capacity challenges” would continue.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel