Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 17 June 2026 [Last updated 18:21]
17 Jun 2026 · S7 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Bus Fares
I understand Mr Harvie’s argument and I am more than willing to engage with him on that particular issue.
However, I turn to a different pilot. Earlier this year, the SNP Government launched our £2 bus fare cap pilot in the Highlands and Islands. Backed by £10 million of public money, the pilot was designed to make travel more affordable, accessible and straightforward, the importance of which for our rural and island communities cannot be understated. From the early feedback that I have heard, it is doing just that—it is reducing the cost of everyday journeys and supporting people to take the bus.
As the First Minister has set out, and as per our manifesto commitment, we are now working at pace to expand the benefits of that £2 fare cap beyond the Highlands and Islands. Initially, that means making progress within the first 100 days of this Government to extend the cap to Glasgow, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire and Inverclyde. Beyond that, we will introduce the legislation that is needed to deliver a nationwide £2 fare cap by the end of this parliamentary session.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Katy Clark)
Lab
The next item of business is a Scottish Government debate on affordable bus fares. I call Stephen Flynn to speak to and move motion S7M-00367.15:07
The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport (Stephen Flynn)
SNP
Presiding Officer, I—Interruption. Sorry, Presiding Officer—I forgot to put my card in. I am stuck in my ways from down the road, as I have not been used to ...
Willie Rennie (Fife North East) (LD)
LD
Will the cabinet secretary give way?
Stephen Flynn
SNP
On that note, I am happy to give way to Mr Rennie.
Willie Rennie
LD
I do not disagree with what the cabinet secretary says. However, does he also recognise that people in my constituency and in many other constituencies compl...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
I thank Mr Rennie for his intervention; I will come to address those points during my speech.To return to my speech, that is why, in the election just five s...
Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab)
Lab
Made a request to intervene.
Stephen Flynn
SNP
I can see that Mr Johnson is very keen to welcome that fact.
Daniel Johnson
Lab
I invite the cabinet secretary to welcome the fact that it was the Scottish Labour-Lib Dem coalition Government that introduced the bus pass for the over-60s...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
We are challenging each other now to welcome facts. I notice that he did not do so in respect of the young people’s bus pass. I see that he is now correcting...
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?
Stephen Flynn
SNP
Yes, of course I will take an intervention from Mr Harvie, who I would imagine is about to indicate his role during the course of the previous parliamentary ...
Patrick Harvie
Green
The cabinet secretary has predicted correctly. Just to complete that conversation, I will say that I am sure that the cabinet secretary is proud—and he shoul...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
I am not sure that we have ever willingly been pushed out of our comfort zone, let alone by Mr Harvie.We are proud of the commitment that we have made to Sco...
Craig Hoy (Dumfriesshire) (Con)
Con
Made a request to intervene.
Stephen Flynn
SNP
—which Mr Hoy seems to have a particular interest in.
Craig Hoy
Con
I rise not in a spirit of self-congratulation, unlike the other members who have intervened so far. I have a question about young people beyond the cities. I...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
Mr Hoy tries to drag me into a conversation in relation to the reliability and availability of buses, but he need not do that, because I understand and recog...
Patrick Harvie
Green
I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for being so generous in taking interventions. Does he agree that one of the further steps that needs to be taken is t...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
I understand Mr Harvie’s argument and I am more than willing to engage with him on that particular issue.However, I turn to a different pilot. Earlier this y...
Paul Sweeney (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
For several years, my constituents have been frustrated that they are paying the most expensive bus fares in the United Kingdom when other parts of the UK ha...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
I am not sure that I can go much quicker, having just been elected to this Parliament, than to give the commitment that I just made in relation to our party’...
Craig Hoy
Con
Will Mr Flynn take an intervention?
Stephen Flynn
SNP
I will make some progress, if that is okay—actually, I see that Craig Hoy is desperate to come in, so I will let him.
Craig Hoy
Con
For clarification, is the cabinet secretary now proposing to extend the pilot scheme to the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport area? In light of the exper...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
I feel as though I need to repeat myself: we just ran an election campaign with the commitment to extend the £2 bus fare cap to those areas front and centre....
Daniel Johnson
Lab
That may be true, but why have no such partnerships been brought forward? Why did it take six years for the Government to publish guidelines on bus franchisi...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
The SPT has come forward with such plans, as I am sure Mr Johnson is aware.Of those powers, franchising has perhaps been the subject of the greatest attentio...
Graham Simpson (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Reform)
Reform
The cabinet secretary has been extremely generous with interventions. I want him to address the question on franchising. I know that the issue precedes him, ...
Stephen Flynn
SNP
I will come to that point in just a second.It is that interest that led us to work on a cross-party basis during the current budget process and to commit up ...