South Lanarkshire Council's leader has welcomed the Scottish Government's move to give local authorities power over bus services - but has criticised the lack of funding to support it.
The Scottish Government recently gave powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act for local authorities to run their own bus services in any way they see fit, with aims to empower councils to respond to their own transport challenges.
Although council leader, Councillor Joe Fagan, believes controlling bus services is a priority, he has labelled the Scottish Government plans an enabling power only.
He said: “The new administration won support for greater democratic control of the bus network and we intend to take this work forward.
“Labour councillors have long campaigned for powers to control local bus services and scrap the broken bus market.
"This enabling legislation is a welcome step. It would never have happened if we did not put pressure on the SNP Government. They resisted reform of Scotland’s broken bus laws for years and, even now, they are still not funding new bus laws to make public control of the network possible. But this is progress and we want to build on it."
Councillor Fagan went on: “South Lanarkshire Labour believes it is time to scrap the broken bus market once and for all. We need the SNP Government and MSPs to get behind us and back up new bus laws up with new funding.
“Emergency Covid-support for the bus sector is running out and there could be a tidal wave of service cuts and de-registrations coming our way later this year. These new bus laws do very little unless councils are fully funded to bring local bus networks back under control and guarantee minimum levels of service.
"We have the authority to run municipal bus services from the SNP Government but they are still depriving us of the means.”
Minister for Transport, Jenny Gilruth, said: “When the Transport (Scotland) Act was developed, local authorities asked for flexible options to revitalise local bus networks, including running their own bus services. I am pleased that this Government will now empower our local councils to do so.
“The Act was designed to help make Scotland’s transport network cleaner, smarter and more accessible.
“I recognise that not every local authority will want to run their own bus services – some may opt for a partnership or franchise approach. What’s key is that local authorities will soon have greater tools at their disposal to revitalise bus services where required.
“I would encourage all local transport authorities to consider using this power, and the full range of tools available to them under the Act, to ensure that everyone has accessible public transport regardless of where they are in Scotland.”
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