Robert Brown hits out over bus fare rises

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 23rd May 2008

Glasgow Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown has today hit out at the SNP Government for its contribution to the current hefty bus fare rises, and attacked SNP MSPs for their "breathtaking cheek" in calling for First Bus to apply to the Westminster Government for help with higher fuel prices.

In fact, the Competition Commission blames the rises on the SNP Government's decision not to increase the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to compensate for rises in fuel duty in Scotland.

The SNP Scottish Government has refused to pass on to Scottish bus operators the fuel duty rebate which the UK Government has provided for operators in England, and this now puts bus operators north of the border at a competitive disadvantage.

Robert Brown said:

"Bus fare increases in recent years have been substantial and people are annoyed about these latest rises which came in with very little notice. Some prices have risen by 25%, not least for children.

"But it's quite clear who is mostly to blame for this fiasco. The SNP Government can't pretend their hands are clean when they were the ones who refused to compensate bus companies in Scotland, after the Westminster Government chose to offset the increase for English Bus operators.

"At a time when fuel prices are increasing, the SNP Government must have known a refusal to subsidise the increase would have meant a hike in fares for Scottish people.

"It's quite hypocritical of SNP MSPs to react with outrage to the decision to increase fares when decisions taken by their Government led to this situation. In fact it is breathtaking cheek on their part.

"Thanks to the SNP, it may now be cheaper to take the car for travel into Glasgow which is no good for the long term future of the environment either."

Ends

Notes to editors:

Amendment to motion:

S3M-01948.2 Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (Scottish Liberal Democrats): First Glasgow Fare Increases- As an amendment to motion S3M-1948 in the name of Bob Doris (First Glasgow Fare Increases), leave out from "fare cap has been lifted" to end and insert "Competition Commission has blamed the removal of its fare cap on the SNP government's decision not to increase the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to compensate for rises in fuel duty; regrets the Scottish Government's refusal to pass on to Scottish bus operators the fuel duty rebate which the UK Government has provided for bus operators in England, thereby putting bus operators north of the border at a competitive disadvantage; further regrets that the Scottish Government's budget indicates that no further fuel duty will be rebated in the next three years; recognises that the SNP government's lack of support will have serious implications for bus services in Scotland, particularly for rural service operators that are already at full stretch financially; deplores the fact that bus passengers across Scotland will have to pay for the SNP Government's poor judgment, and calls on the Scottish government to give a detailed explanation as to why it will not increase the BSOG to compensate for rising fuel duty and what Scottish Ministers intend to do to minimise the impact on bus passengers in Scotland.

Original motion:

S3M-01948 Bob Doris (Glasgow) (Scottish National Party): First Glasgow Fare Increases- That the Parliament believes that the recent bus fare increases of up to 25% by First Glasgow are unacceptable; notes that this includes raising the price of a child all-day ticket to £2, that this will be too much for some families and that with the summer holidays just around the corner this comes at the worst possible time for them; further notes that the fare cap has been lifted by the Competition Commission partly due to rising fuel costs despite UK First Bus seeing an increase in its operating profits of 11% to £122 million, a bigger jump than last year and far higher than FirstGroup as a whole which had a 7.6% increase in operating profits; believes that, with FirstGroup declaring preliminary profits of almost £152 million, there is no need to put fares up in this way and that if it has a problem with the level of rising fuel prices it should make representations to the UK Exchequer and not pick on hard-pressed commuters, and calls on UK First Bus to rethink its pricing strategy or at the very least guarantee a future price freeze over a number of years.