Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2023
17 May 2023 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Bus Services
I will provide members with the details of where uptake has occurred. Off the top of my head, I do not have the numbers for each local authority area, but we will provide that information later, as I did to Ms Dowey in response to a question that she asked earlier this week.
The pandemic was not only a period of huge challenge for public transport but its impact continues to be felt in patterns of demand. Therefore, although the Scottish Government continues to provide significant financial support for bus services, that support needs to evolve to ensure that it remains fit for purpose and is sustainable in the long term. I have committed to a review of bus subsidy this year to ensure that funding can best contribute to meeting the needs of local communities.
We are progressing with the fair fares review, which will develop and assess options to make our public transport system more accessible, available and affordable, with the costs of transport more fairly shared across Government, business and society.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur)
LD
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-08954, in the name of Alex Rowley, on access to bus services. I invite members who wish to take part to p...
Alex Rowley (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
On the face of it, my motion for debate is about bus services, route cancellations, inflation-busting fare increases, a lack of investment and a failure of l...
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
Will Alex Rowley give way?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
The member is just winding up. Mr Rowley, you need to conclude at six minutes. You can take the intervention, but you will then need to conclude.
Alex Rowley
Lab
I apologise to the Green member for not being able to take the intervention, but perhaps he and others can start to examine their consciences and ask themsel...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
As I am sure that members will already have gathered, there is no time in hand, so speeches will have to stick to the time limit. I invite the minister to sp...
The Minister for Transport (Kevin Stewart)
SNP
I welcome the debate on the motion. Mr Rowley said that he wanted a consensual debate, but his opening remarks did not sound consensual at all. However, I a...
Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
Will the minister give way?
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Will the minister give way?
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I will give way to Liam Kerr, because he asked first.
Liam Kerr
Con
Does the minister know exactly where the concentrations of people taking up the under-22s bus scheme are located?
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I will provide members with the details of where uptake has occurred. Off the top of my head, I do not have the numbers for each local authority area, but we...
Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
Will the minister give way?
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I have a lot to get through, so I will not take the intervention. Improving bus journey times and reliability will contribute to high-quality bus services a...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You need to conclude, minister.
Kevin Stewart
SNP
Thank you, Presiding Officer—I will. I recognise just how important a modern, affordable and accessible bus system is for the whole of Scotland. I am impres...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You do need to conclude, minister.
Kevin Stewart
SNP
In which case, Presiding Officer, I move amendment S6M-08954.3, to leave out from “notes the recent” to end and insert: “supports the vision outlined in the...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
I ask members who intend to speak in the debate who have not already done so to press their request-to-speak button. 15:04
Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
I thank the Labour Party for securing the debate. I am a fan of buses, and I have been ever since my dad worked for a bus company in the 1970s. I would be ev...
Mark Ruskell
Green
Will the member give way?
Graham Simpson
Con
No. Before the pandemic, 373 million journeys a year were made by bus in Scotland, which was the largest number of journeys for any form of public transport...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
We are now at a stage at which 15 per cent of our bus fleet is using decarbonised buses, which is much higher than south of the border, where Mr Simpson’s pa...
Graham Simpson
Con
The minister mentioned a figure of 15 per cent, yet Transform Scotland said that it was 16 per cent—that is nowhere near the target. The £500 million bus pa...
Beatrice Wishart (Shetland Islands) (LD)
LD
Had my amendment been chosen, it would have called on the Scottish Government to extend the under-22s free bus entitlement to ferries, which in many island c...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
We move to the open debate. I remind members that we are tight for time. The words “In conclusion” should be uttered before the four-minute mark, not on the ...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I am pleased to speak in support of the Scottish Labour motion. I thank my colleague Alex Rowley for bringing his passion to the chamber today. Public trans...
Fiona Hyslop (Linlithgow) (SNP)
SNP
Buses connect us to our communities and to each other, and they give us freedom and choice. A good bus network should give us an environmentally friendly, ac...
Maurice Golden (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I will focus my comments on local bus services—the sort of services that act as lifelines for our communities by providing the most vulnerable people with ev...
Neil Bibby (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Monica Lennon mentioned that next week is #lovemybus week. I have to say that the event will seem to be rather ironic for many of my constituents, who will b...