Hansard

I thank my colleague Bob Doris for bringing forward this debate on the abolition of peak fares from ScotRail services. He has done something that we in the Government are sometimes not good at doing, which is celebrating success and making sure that we let people know that we are taking steps that will help make the lives of the people of Scotland better under this SNP Government.

Bob Doris asked about the monitoring of the programme. We will monitor it over a three-year period, but I point out that we have abolished peak rail fares for good. We will see what will happen over the three-year period, but those peak rail fares are gone.

I also want to congratulate Bob Doris, because he has an exemplary record of standing up for his constituents in the chamber on a regular basis, and I commend him for that.

Fulton MacGregor raised the issue of concessions. Despite the fact that he is not here, I encourage him to write to us. A lot of the fares that he was talking about are local authority and transport authority concessionary travel fares, but I am happy to have a further discussion with him on those.

Sue Webber was, unfortunately, disappointing but not surprising in making her miserabilist speech. I will correct her on one thing, which is that ScotRail is one of the top-performing train operators in the United Kingdom; it performed better than most operators in Great Britain. In 2024-25, ScotRail cancelled just 2.2 per cent of its trains, which is around half as many cancellations as the GB average of 4.1 per cent. I could read the entire list of other performance measures in which ScotRail is doing so well under public ownership, but I will spare Ms Webber’s blushes.

I am delighted to welcome Richard Leonard’s warm response and vociferous support. We may not agree on some things, but we absolutely agree on this.

Mark Ruskell made a point about the Greens’ involvement, which I absolutely accept, but he should remember that it was the cabinet secretary who extended the pilot scheme in order to see how it would work. He also talked about season tickets and the variety of ways—again, I have a full list—in which people can save money by using ScotRail. Christine Grahame pointed out the same thing.

Claire Baker made points about remarks that were made by the cabinet secretary, on which I will come back to my notes. Her last point was that perhaps we should be thanking the UK Government for the extra money. I go back to the point that the First Minister made during First Minister’s question time, which was that the people of Scotland should have the right to choose; we should not have to wait for Westminster to do things in order to allow us to deliver for the people of Scotland.

I thank all the staff who are involved in Scotland’s Railway for helping us to deliver our landmark policy commitment. It is a collective effort of the staff in ScotRail and Network Rail Scotland, and has resulted in ScotRail performing better than most GB operators.

Public ownership has created the opportunity to deliver a railway that is run for the benefit of the nation. ScotRail passenger numbers have increased by 75 per cent from 46 million in 2021-22 to around 82 million in 2023-24. That makes ScotRail one of the fastest-growing operators, with one of the best passenger satisfaction rates. We are building even further on that success by removing ScotRail peak fares for good.

We have always been clear that further initiatives on peak fares would be considered if money was available. Balancing our budget for the benefit of the people of Scotland is, and will always remain, a priority for the SNP Government. Removing the peak fares is a bold and pioneering initiative that has not been done elsewhere in the UK, and it was possible only due to the Government’s bringing ScotRail into public sector control.

I applaud the unions for their role in helping the Scottish Government to deliver what is a pioneering policy and for their collaboration, which demonstrates that working together allows us to achieve more. That is a further commitment of our desire to be able to do more and to create a railway that is run in the interests of the nation and for the benefit of passengers rather than shareholders. An ambitious move such as scrapping peak fares from ScotRail services shows exactly what we can achieve with a modern, efficient and sustainable publicly owned railway, and I again commend everyone who has partnered us in delivering it.

Getting more people to travel by public transport is crucial in tackling our climate emergency. To do that, we need to make public transport more appealing. Removing peak fares will do exactly that. The pilot demonstrated that more people chose to travel by train when fares were removed. By taking this step and providing certainty that peak fares are gone for good, we are confident that more people will take the opportunity to make sustainable long-term choices, choosing public transport, which will make public transport more sustainable as a result. That is a win-win for us all, but not only that; the decision to remove peak fares was taken against a backdrop of continuing global uncertainty—arguably, a period of even greater economic uncertainty than when the pilot was initially operated. That has had an impact on the day-to-day lives of the people of Scotland. That is why it is vital that we as a Government take direct action to reduce uncertainty and improve the lives of those who live in Scotland. Permanently removing those peak fares will help many passengers to cut down on their travel costs. That is the SNP Government working hard for the people of Scotland.

I understand that folk thought that we had not done enough to promote the pilot removal of peak fares, so I will be clear: we want as many folk as possible to take advantage of the excellent value that our railway offers. That is why significant promotional activity is under way right now so that we can maximise the uptake of the great value that the train offers. I am sure that many of you will have encountered advertising on television, radio or social media, spreading the message that peak fares are gone for good.

Indeed, I and almost every other SNP MSP were all over social media at the start of the week, highlighting the scrapping of peak rail fares with videos and memes, and even handing out tickets at stations, letting commuters know that the SNP Government had scrapped peak rail fares for good. Ironically—