SNP'S PUBLIC TRANSPORT SHAMBLES, AS USE OF TRAINS AND BUSES PLUNGE

• Ministers' war on motorists has actually seen public transport use fall
• Despite millions being spent on cycle lanes, their use has risen by just 1 per cent
• It comes after UK Minister branded the nationalisation of ScotRail a 'fiasco'
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Public transport use has fallen in Scotland despite the SNP’s war on motorists and a massive push towards travelling by bus, cycle and rail, astonishing figures show.

In a stark indictment of the Nationalists’ ‘active travel’ strategy, figures released by its own transport quango found bus journeys and ScotRail passenger numbers have fallen compared with before the pandemic.

The report also found that, despite almost half a billion pounds of taxpayers’ cash being spent on pro-cycling and anti-car measures in the past five years, the number of people using a bike as a means of transport increased by just 1 per cent.

The Transport Scotland report blamed recovery for the from the pandemic following the 2020 lockdown. 

It comes after Westminster’s Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander last week said ScotRail’s nationalisation by the SNP had been a ‘fiasco’.

We told last month how commuters and travellers were being hit by poor reliability, late services and expensive prices since the Nationalists took ScotRail back into public ownership in 2022. 

Now, in a withering assessment of its own policies, the SNP government’s agency Transport Scotland states: ‘People are still travelling less on public transport than in 2019. Satisfaction with public transport was lower in 2023 than in 2019.

‘The number of local bus journeys was 18 per cent lower in 2022-23 than in 2019-20, and the number of ScotRail passengers was 16 per cent lower in 2023-24 than in 2019-20.’ 

It adds: ‘In 2023, 38 per cent reported using the bus at least once in the last month, with 7 per cent using it every day or almost every day.

‘This is similar to the baseline figures of 2019 which were 39 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.

‘Bus use has fallen overall in the last ten years, with journeys declining by from 420 million in 2012-13 to 301 million in 2022-23.

‘Similarly, journey kilometres have also fallen from 327 million in 2012-13 to 275 million in 2022-23.’

On train use, it states: ‘In 2023, 28 per cent of the population reported using the train at least once in the last month. This is slightly less than the baseline figure for 2019 which was 30 per cent.

‘Between 2012-13 and 2018-19, ScotRail passenger journeys increased from 83 million to 98 million. Passenger journey numbers in 2022-23 are at 64 million as rail patronage continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic.’

The figures come as the report reiterates the SNP’s plan to ‘progress our ambition of a 20 per cent reduction in car use by 2030’. 

The SNP’s transport priorities place walking, wheeling (the use of wheelchairs) and cycling at the top, with car use at the bottom.

Meanwhile, the use of bikes showed only a tiny increase despite hundreds of millions of pounds being handed to Bristol-based lobby group Sustrans to build cycle lanes and reduce car use in Scottish towns and cities.

The report states: ‘Cycling as a means of transport at least one day in the past week was reported by 6 per cent of all people in 2023, which is similar the 2019 baseline figure (5 per cent). 

Cycling just for pleasure/to keep fit at least one day in the past week was reported by 7 per cent of the population in 2023. This is similar to the baseline position in 2019 (6 per cent).’

Sustrans’ Places For Everyone programme has the stated aim to ‘reallocate road space, and restrict traffic permeability to prioritise people walking, cycling and wheeling over private motor vehicles’.

Scottish Tory transport spokeswoman Sue Webber said: ‘It is hardly surprising fewer Scots are using public transport than pre-pandemic, given the SNP’s shambolic handling of these services.

'The SNP’s failed nationalisation of ScotRail and repeated inaction in relation to tackling growing antisocial behaviour on buses means many Scots are put off travelling on them.

‘If SNP Ministers are going to continue preaching to Scots to get out their cars, they must up their game in making trains and buses safe, reliable and affordable so people are attracted to use them.’

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: ‘We know there is more to do to encourage people to choose to travel by public transport.

‘This is why we intend to invest more than £2.6 billion in 2025-26 to support public transport and to make our transport system affordable and accessible for all.’