Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2025
I will use my speech today to talk about the role of public transport in general, but first let me address the motion that is before us and the specific issue of train travel.
I welcome the Greens’ motion. Quite rightly, it calls for public transport fares to be cheaper and more accessible, as well as for the introduction of integrated ticketing, which was promised more than a decade ago.
A survey for The Herald found that almost half the public—46.4 per cent—thought that rail fares were too expensive, and that more than 40 per cent rarely travelled on ScotRail. The latest Transport Scotland figures show that the level of satisfaction with public transport in general, despite a modest rise last year, is still lower than it was pre-pandemic. I suggest to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport that charging the public more than £30 for a return fare between Scotland’s two largest cities is unlikely to help to improve those figures, particularly when it is extremely difficult to purchase a flexipass at Edinburgh Waverley station.
However, if we want more people to travel via public transport, we have to make it both easy and accessible. That is not rocket science. In addition to keeping costs low, we should be doing sensible things, such as introducing smart travel cards that let passengers use all types of public transport with a single-access card. That would tick both boxes—easy and accessible.