Edinburgh bus fares rise just days after services cut

Published on Wednesday 22 February 2012 01:19

THE Scottish Government is being urged to intervene after passengers in Edinburgh were faced with dramatic hikes in fares by the city’s main bus operator – just days after slashing a host of services.

Councillors are to seek emergency talks with the publicly funded company and the Scottish Government after the operator blamed a huge cut in national funding for the moves.

Day tickets will be hiked up 9.3 per cent, from £3.20 to £3.50, while single tickets will rise 7.7 per cent, from £1.30 to £1.40. An annual ridacard will go up £36 – or 6.25 per cent – to £612, which will be more expensive than buying a monthly ticket by direct debit.

Ian Craig, managing director of Lothian Buses, said the fares were essential to ensure the company, of which the city council is the majority shareholder, could continue to deliver the “highest standards of public transport”.

Although the scale of the increases announced yesterday was much greater than expected, the firm has previously warned hikes were inevitable due to the Scottish Government slashing its support for the Bus Service Operators Grant.

Funding has been cut by 20 per cent while Lothian Buses says it is suffering further in comparison to rural operators due to the way subsidies are calculated, although it has not released details of how its funding suffered year-on-year. Mr Craig said: “We endeavour to keep ticket prices as low as possible but this is an extremely challenging time.

“We appreciate that our customers are experiencing their own financial challenges and we have endeavoured to keep the increases to a minimum.”

Gordon Mackenzie, the city’s transport leader, said councillors of all parties would be meeting the bus firm ahead of an expected deputation to see transport minister Keith Brown, who had urged the bus industry to “act responsibly” when setting new fares.

Mr Mackenzie said: “I would urge the government to think again on this issue as Lothian Buses do seem to have been badly affected by a cut in funding. We are not able to put in extra money to prevent fares going up.”

Gavin Booth, senior Scottish officer for the Bus Users UK group, said: “I don’t think these increases are particularly unexpected and I do think these are legitimate reasons that Lothian Buses has put forward. It’s also worth pointing out the increases are a lot lower than private bus operators have enforced in other parts of Scotland.”

A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland said the government’s position had not changed since last month, when a funding deal for the Bus Service Operators Group was announced.

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13

judgedredd777

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 01:43 PM

Well the "Wheels on the Bus just keep falling off". Cant be long now until they fall off the "Vanity Tram" if the tram ever enters service or will the first electric bill derail it when it hits the buffers?????????? In the words of Ian Craig "the fare increases, which average six per cent, were inevitable to keep the business sustainable, what the hell is this council thinking about by continuing with the "Tram Vortex" from hell. Its "Less Grant, Less Buses, Services Back to Normal a`la the seventies service". If you need a bus, you wait on the bus. Full Stop. No room for empty busses swaning about town anymore. To make the buses sustainable sell off half the fleet which will steel a march on reducing Edinburghs carbon footprint and pollution and revise the bus network timetables. In the word of the government "Bullet Brain Mackenzie I would urge the City of Edinburgh to think again on this issue. It`s not Rocket Science to get voted out of office at the May election.

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12

leithforme

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 10:04 AM

#11, good point that seems to be being ignored by all - the 'mystery' donor and several controversal chnages to public transport policy since a certain party came to government.... Also, perhaps cutting services would be a move in the right direct; you only have to attempt to get anywhere around Edinburgh to realise there are simply far too many buses, mostly large unsuitable double deckers with less than a handfull of passengers on each, about. Cutting the numbers, and size of buses would be a step forward, as well as getting rid of most of the congestion and pollution causing bus lanes; simply a political experiament that doesn't work, except of course as a new revenue generating scheme if the bus lane cameras actually come into action, and giving a monoply of areas of publically paid roads into the hands of bus operators, another link to the mystery man perhaps?

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11

spacecadetrik

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 06:46 PM

So we have a common factor here. Try my quiz. Which organisation am I? 1. I have control of the Scottish Govt who cut the national funding. 2. I have control of Edinburgh city council who are the largest shareholder. 3. I have a massive donor who may just have an interest in the future of buses in Edinburgh. Anyone??

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10

Gordon Hay

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 02:10 PM

# 6 - But what about the hike in fares that would be needed to pay for the extra staff?

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leithforme

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 01:45 PM

Pending Moderation

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8

Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 12:38 PM

How about the Scottish Government acting on the ridiculous increases in road tax for cars? Or the ludicrous situation with petrol prices? Or the fact that insurance companies seem to charge what they like? In reality, these rises are not significant. The increase in road tax, petrol prices and insurance over the past 5 years most definately IS significant.

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7

lewdboy

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 11:04 AM

Just a minor increase before the true panic sets in and they realise that they're footing the bill for the £1bn tramline. Which coincidently would buy over 5000 brand new double deckers.

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6

Curious Yellow

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 10:57 AM

If they brought back clippies there would be no problem with staged fares.

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5

HighwayChode

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 10:23 AM

I'd imagine the difficulty with different fare's is they're hard to enforce. In rush hour in particular it would be very difficult to prevent people buying the short distance fare and then placing themselves on the top deck for the entire journey. The bus driver won't have the time to eject them on a busy rush hour commute.

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4

jdships

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 09:33 AM

3 Gorgierules ____________________________________________________ Ever heard of wet weather, people not able to walk distances ? travelling time etc etc --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In case you forgot the bus service is there to SERVE everyone regardless of their age , fitness et al --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Agree totally with " offside" . A " Two stages for One Pound" would surely help raise revenue

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3

Gorgierules

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 08:42 AM

1 Ever heard of walking?

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2

paulr

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 08:37 AM

Oh come now, we have to pay for the trams somehow and after all it's only the busses.

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1

offside

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 08:36 AM

Given this increase is it time to reintroduce a lower fare for shorter journeys , tranent to clermiston for £1.40 is great value, perhaps even a ridiculous level of subsidy whereas tollcross to st andrews square for £1.40 is a disincentive to use the bus. Can someone please explain why fare stages or a fairer system is not offered.

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