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Plenary, 01 Jun 2005

01 Jun 2005 · S2 · Plenary

Item of business

Transport (Scotland) Act 2001

Gibson, Rob SNP Highlands and Islands Watch on SPTV

Much of what I will say concerns those areas of Scotland in which support from local authorities and from the new regional transport partnerships will be necessary if we are to achieve an integrated transport system. I will also make some remarks on the need to integrate community-provided transport and the regular bus services and try to tease out whether the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 had any vision for the areas that I represent.

First, there is a fundamental problem in taking individual parts of transport and thinking about the pricing systems that work for those parts. If we do not have similar pricing systems for rail and for ferries, for example, we are not providing the kind of quality transport access across an area in a fashion that makes it more possible for people to use the transport that is on offer. I make a plea for the Local Government and Transport Committee to look carefully at how pricing is carried through. Competition between bus and rail—or between bus and tram and so on, which we are talking about at the moment—does not help the process of integration. As a member of the Edinburgh Tram (Line One) Bill Committee, I will be very interested to see whether we get integration between those modes of transport. It is essential that citizens have that integration.

The coming of the new transport partnerships means that there will be quite a big imbalance in the quality of bus services between areas. For example, from evidence that was given in June last year, I note that Shetland Islands Council, Orkney Islands Council and the Western Isles Council provide 100 per cent services on a tendered basis and that Dumfries and Galloway Council provides 85 per cent of services in that way. Interestingly, Shetland Islands Council is the only council that has 100 per cent low-floor bus provision. That comes at a cost, however. When all the commercial providers in the relevant cities and areas are looked at, surely we will see the need for regulation that says, "That kind of approach has to be applied everywhere." The fact is that in the Highlands and Islands strategic transport partnership—HITRANS—Shetland will be well provided for in that respect, but what about the Western Isles and the Highland Council area? How will the regional transport partnerships be able to bring other parts of their areas up to a better standard?

I turn to bus access in the Highlands. The difference between how access works in some areas and not in others comes into play. For example, there is a real lack of wheelchair-friendly buses in the Highlands. Since HITRANS will fund only Highland contractors to install wheelchair access, private contractors like taxis get no money and yet they are a means to link people in remote areas from their home to a concessionary fare system. We have to get that sorted out.

Community contracts can stress that wheelchair access be put in place for community transport. That is the sort of thing that we have to have in terms of the general provision of buses.

My final remark is about access to radial services around the big centres. I hope that the Environment and Rural Development Committee inquiry into areas close to cities will look at the problem of providing transport not just from the centre to the periphery, but in the radial routes as well. The big problem in many areas that are close to big centres is that bus services do not provide that at present.

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Plenary, 01 Jun 2005

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