UNIONS and campaigners united today to demand Scotland’s buses are brought back into public hands as a new law making it possible comes into force.

The call comes on the day that Scottish transport authorities such as SPT in Strathclyde and HiTrans in the Highlands can start to return bus services to public control.

A franchising system used in London and Greater Manchester, with Merseyside set to follow suit, will allow regional transport authorities to set fares, standards, routes and ticketing.

The new power became available in Scotland as part of a Labour amendment to the Transport Act, which was passed in 2019.

The effects of the Tories’ 1988 Transport Act left Scotland with only one publicly owned provider, Lothian buses, which has consistently been regarded as the nation’s best having been set up by the former Lothian Regional Council.

Most services in Scotland are now shared across just three highly profitable private operators reliant on public subsidy.

But campaigners say that private firms put profit before passengers, cutting services with little notice and often leading to spiralling costs.

They argue that as the cost-of-greed crisis continues to bite, new powers to restore public ownership must be a priority for local and national politicians.

The Poverty Alliance’s Ruth Boyle said: “Many of the communities our members work with say the present unregulated system is expensive, not joined up and unreliable.

“Our public transport system is failing the people who need it most, with implications for people’s health and wellbeing.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Rosie Hampton argued that transport is Scotland’s largest source of climate pollution, responsible for almost a third of total annual emissions.

“We need to urgently change the way we get around,” she said. 

“Buses should be run as the vital public service that they are, like education or health.”

Ellie Harrison, campaigner with Better Buses for Strathclyde, highlighted that more than half of bus company income comes direct from the taxpayer, yet the public has no control over the way services are run in the current deregulated system.

STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said: “It’s clear that workers throughout Scotland are sick of being taken for a ride.

“Public transport should be for the people, not the profiteers.”

The Scottish government was contacted for comment.