ScotRail peak fares suspension: Tricky decision over scheme’s future faces transport secretary Fiona Hyslop

Discounts of up to half price due to end in June after being extended to nine months – and after an 8.7 per cent ticket hike in April

The suspension of ScotRail peak fares has been hailed by transport secretary Fiona Hyslop as a “bold initiative” that had also simplified ticket buying as she prepares to consider whether to make the discount permanent.

More than one million extra journeys have been made on the nationalised train operator since the initial six-month trial was launched in October and then extended to June. It has reduced fares by up to around half on some routes, such as Edinburgh-Glasgow.

Ms Hyslop faces a potentially difficult political decision over whether to continue the scheme in some form since commuters have got used to the savings over nine months, and with a 8.7 per cent fares hike coming next month.

The trial is being evaluated to see if it prompted travellers to switch from other forms of transport or generated new trips. (Picture Jane Barlow/PA)

But with the Scottish Government suffering an acute funding squeeze and already to spend £1.6 billion on Scotland’s railways in the year from April, ScotRail losing around 20 per cent of its fares revenue from the experiment could call into question its affordability.

The Cabinet secretary told the Rail Scotland conference in Glasgow: "[Lack of] simplicity, and cost, are well-known barriers to travel. Rail fares are too complex and continue to be stubbornly difficult to simplify for passengers, but the removal of peak fares is a bold initiative that demonstrates that we can take action."

Ms Hyslop said the trial was scheduled to end on June 28, "after which I will carefully consider the impact of that measure and the long-term sustainability of such a proposition”.

ScotRail is evaluating the scheme’s impact on revenue, while the Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency will assess whether the extra journeys were by existing passengers, or travellers switching from other forms of transport or making extra trips.

Ms Hyslop later told MSPs: “The evaluation has to measure value for money, but it must also measure whether we can get a modal shift, so that people consistently use our railway system.”

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Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, which comprises ScotRail and track owner Network Rail Scotland, said the pilot was costing the equivalent of £30 million a year compared to its annual fare revenue of £325m, or 9 per cent.

He told The Scotsman: “For ScotRail, it’s a significant revenue loss, but it creates fabulous benefits for customers and the economy and society.”

David Lowrie, chief executive of the Scottish Government-appointed Scottish Rail Holdings, which oversees ScotRail, warned last year the trial could cost £60m a year.

But Transport Scotland dismissed that as “unhelpful speculation”.

Scottish Labour transport spokesperson Alex Rowley urged ministers to abolish peak fares. He said: “The decision to scrap peak prices was welcome, but as it stands the Scottish Government is set to axe this scheme before they’ve even decided whether it works.

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“An affordable, reliable rail service will connect communities, strengthen our economy and help us meet our climate goals. We fully support the removal of peak fares and we would work with the Government to make this permanent.”

Scottish Conservatives transport spokesperson Graham Simpson said: “We have supported the peak fares suspension because it is only by making fares cheaper and simpler that we will get people back on to trains. I hope that it will prove to be a success and that it will continue.”