A decision by a private company to scrap Glasgow’s only night bus service has prompted an outcry from poverty campaigners, environmentalists and women’s safety advocates as well as uniting pub and club bosses and politicians in condemnation.
When First Bus announced on Monday that it was withdrawing its weekend night bus services across Scotland’s biggest city from the end of July it resulted in an overnight backlash.
First Bus argued that the service was no longer viable because of low passenger numbers, which have failed to bounce back since the pandemic despite promotions such as free tickets over the festive season.
But Mike Grieve, head of the Night Time Industries Association Scotland, described the decision as “shortsighted and dangerous, showing no consideration for the safety of thousands of night workers and customers coming home in the early hours of the morning”.
The Scottish Labour MSP for Glasgow region, Pam Duncan-Glancy, wrote directly to First Bus accusing the company of “a dangerous dereliction of responsibility to the people of Glasgow who will no longer have a night service to get them home safe”.
Peter Kelly, the director of the Poverty Alliance, said stopping the night service was “completely unjust and will hit Glaswegians on low incomes the hardest – people who work nightshifts and early shifts in the kind of jobs that are already undervalued”.
With the city’s subway and train network shutting down by midnight, the night bus is the only option for many people trying to get home after shift work or a night out in the early hours of the morning. The city has also suffered a significant reduction in taxis with many quitting the business since lockdown, while the council’s new low emission zone restricts the type of vehicles that can drive into the city centre.
Graeme Macfarlan, the commercial director at First Bus Scotland, said it had become clear that because of changes in the public’s leisure habits there was “not enough appetite in Glasgow for night bus services to successfully operate into the early hours”.
Macfarlan added that the company had been “delighted” to reintroduce the night bus network last June but had been absorbing operating losses for the last 12 months.
“Despite a wide variety of efforts by First Glasgow and partner organisations to increase the number of people using the night buses, it has not reached the level required to sustain these services beyond July.”
Ellie Harrison of the public transport campaign Get Glasgow Moving said that the decision highlighted wider problems with the city’s transport infrastructure.
“We want Glasgow to follow the example of Greater Manchester by re-regulating its transport system and coordinating bus routes to integrate with the subway and trains. Profit-driven bus companies only want to run at busy times and in busy places, which means that people can’t plan their lives around public transport.”
She said current green targets would require much more comprehensive changes, adding: “With the Scottish government wanting to reduce car miles by 20% by 2030 and Glasgow city council wanting to be net zero by 2030 I don’t think anyone comprehends the scale of transformation required.”
The city council and Strathclyde Transport Partnership have expressed concerns about the announcement and the council has said it was meeting First Bus to discuss the situation, although the Guardian understands this is part of ongoing talks on the matter between the company and the council.
A spokesperson for Glasgow city council said: “We do understand the commercial operators who provide public bus services are facing significant challenges but the decision highlights again the need to look at alternative ways of running bus services in Glasgow.”
“More broadly, we will continue to work with public transport operators to support improvements to bus services in Glasgow. We are also working with partners to explore the medium-to-longer term options for greater public control of the city’s bus network that could allow us to set routes, fares and timetables.”
