Meeting of the Parliament 06 June 2024
As other members have done, I thank Mark Ruskell for giving us the opportunity to debate the policy today. I am proud that the Scottish Greens were able to secure the funding to deliver on the removal of peak rail fares—a policy that rail unions and climate campaigners across Scotland and the United Kingdom have long advocated for. It is the perfect example of a policy that acts in the interests of people and the planet.
As other members have said, workers do not have a choice over when they commute; students do not have a choice over when their lectures or tutorials are; and people who are attending medical appointments do not have that flexibility. The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen was absolutely right to call peak rail fares
“a de facto tax on workers”.
Compared with bus travel, rail travel skews towards those on higher incomes but, post-pandemic, working from home skews massively towards the most privileged people and those on the highest incomes in our society. It is the lowest-income users of our railways who are the least likely to have flexibility over when they travel. They are the ones who were penalised the most by the previous peak rail fare system.
The policy to remove peak fares has meant huge savings to my constituents. I am fortunate in the west of Scotland to have an extensive rail network compared with other parts of the country. Many of my constituents commute into Glasgow city centre to work, and I will run through some of the savings for them as a result of the policy. If they live in Paisley and commute to Glasgow, at the moment, they are saving £8.50 a week or £34 a month; in Lenzie, it is £9 a week or £36 a month; in Clydebank, it is £9.50 a week or £38 a month; in Dumbarton, it is £12.50 a week or £50 a month; in Greenock, it is £18 a week or £72 a month; in Helensburgh, it is £19 a week or £76 a month; and in Largs, it is £27 a week and £108 a month.
A few moments ago, I mentioned Bearsden and Milngavie at First Minister’s question time in relation to safety concerns on roads in the local area. The area also faces serious issues with air pollution because of significant traffic volumes on the roads. Both issues are of major concern, particularly because Drymen Road and Duntocher Road, which I mentioned, have three primary schools, a high school and an early years centre along them. It is a public health issue, particularly for our children and young people.
At the moment, a commuter from Milngavie who is travelling to Glasgow city centre is saving £8.50 a week or £34 a month as a result of the Scottish Greens securing funding for the policy in this year’s budget. A number of people from Bearsden and Milngavie commute to Edinburgh, and they are saving £274 every month. Anecdotally, as a local commuter, I have noticed busier peak-time services on the Milngavie line.
Removing peak fares is only one part of the equation. I have long campaigned for improvements on that line, which was the worst-performing line in Scotland. At one point shortly after I was elected, only one in four trains on the Milngavie line arrived or departed on time. The Scottish Greens were proud to secure £5 million of improvements to that line a few years ago, and we have seen performance improvements.
However, the timetable has still not been fully restored to the pre-pandemic level. Before 2020, we had four trains an hour throughout the day. That is seen as the tipping point of frequency for rail services to be truly attractive. However, at the moment, outside of peak time, we still have only half-hourly services. I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for meeting me about that last year. I urge ScotRail to make clear what its criteria would be for returning to four trains an hour all day.
The final piece of the puzzle on the Milngavie line, like so many others in Scotland, is infrastructure. That line had two tracks up until 1990, but one was removed, and the single track creates major capacity issues. There has long been a local consensus on the need for a new Allander station between Hillfoot and Milngavie to service the now larger local population. However, we cannot add a station to a single-track line without decreasing services, which nobody wants to do.
Issues on the Milngavie line have a knock-on impact across the central belt, so investment here is not just a benefit to those who live locally. Improving that line and increasing the frequency of services are part of the first stage of the Clyde metro project, but we cannot realise that ambition without bringing back the second track.
I am concerned by the lack of detail from Transport Scotland on its intentions for the Milngavie line. Adding the second track would not be expensive, because the existing track was not centred when the other one was removed, so relaying it is a relatively cheap process, with just one bridge upgrade required.
I am proud that the Scottish Greens secured the removal of peak rail fares and the funding required for that in the budget. I repeat other members’ thanks to rail unions and climate campaigners; this is a perfect example of how transforming public transport in this country is in the interests of people and planet. I hope that we can make the removal of peak rail fares permanent and see it as an example of the transformative policies that are required across the network.
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