James and Sandy Easdale have accused the Scottish Government of creating a crisis in the bus industry.
McGill’s Bus Group chair James deflected recent criticism of service cuts through the country by stating: “The bus industry is now having its own crisis and I lay the responsibility firmly at the door of the government in Holyrood.
“Buses have always been very light touch for the SNP administration, which is illogical in so many ways; for a start so many of their supporters rely on our services to get them to work and school, attend hospital appointments or go shopping.“
Joint owner of the company Sandy added: “It’s when you look at the insane economics of ScotRail, now owned by the government, that you realise there is a severe lack of joined up thinking.
“The cost of running a rail network in a country with the landmass of 42% of the UK, but the population of under 9% is disproportionately high.
“This takes a lot of subsidy - the ScotRail revenues don’t even cover their wage bill - and is now coming into sharp focus given the hard times that bus users are going through.“
He added: “Each bus journey is supported to the tune of 27p by the Scottish Government, whilst train passengers enjoy support of £3.27 for every trip.“
The statement went on to point out that this is in a country where around 75% of public transport journeys are made on a bus, while around 20% are made by train.
McGill’s chief executive Ralph Roberts, who is also president of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, said: “Lets discuss those 60% of bus passengers who have their fare paid by Scottish Government - bus operators have no choice but to carry them and the fare is set nationally which doesn’t deal with regional or operator-based variations.
“If you have a quality or low volume operation, you are penalised, if you try to reduce single fares to give fare payers a better deal, your concessionary revenue also gets cut.
“The bus operator invariably takes the blame for all of this, but the system is a product of decades of policy decisions.“
Founded in 1936, McGill's has depots in Greenock, Inchinnan, Johnstone, Dundee, Larbert, Bannockburn, Balfron and Livingston.
In late 2020, McGill’s purchased Xplore Dundee from National Express, and then in September 2022, it acquired First Scotland East and Bright Bus Tours.
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