Hansard

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...