Swinney's £2 cap on bus fares kicks in - but some call it 'half a solution'

The Scottish government's policy to cap bus fares in the west of Scotland at £2 has taken effect.

First Minister John Swinney announced the move as part of his programme for government last week.

From Monday, the £2 trips are being offered in Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Inverclyde - part of a promise to cap fares across the whole of Scotland by the end of the parliamentary term.

A pilot of the scheme has already been rolled out in the Highlands and islands, but Swinney has not said when it would be extended to the rest of the country.

The Scottish government has invested £10m in the pilot, which has been tested in the Highlands, Western and Northern Isles, Moray, and Argyll and Bute for the past year.

As it extends to the west of the country, participating bus operators will be reimbursed by public body Transport Scotland.

Swinney said bus travel was the most widely used form of public transport in Scotland and the government was working to make it "as affordable, accessible and attractive as possible".

He said: "This is vital to grow the economy, travel sustainably and protect the planet."

First Bus, one of the bigger bus companies operating across Glasgow, Dumbarton, Kirkintilloch and Lanarkshire, said it would continue to work with the government to ensure the cap was a success.

But just days before the start of the scheme, another bus company expressed concern over how it would work across non-participating areas.

Electric bus company Ember called the £2 cap "a good slogan" but said the Scottish government could do more to support routes right across Scotland.

Ember, which operates intercity routes across Scotland, said if a journey was entirely within an area where the cap applied, such as its Glasgow to Cumbernauld route, the whole fare would be capped at £2.

But a trip which begins or ends outside the scheme, such as Glasgow to Dundee, would see passengers having to pay £2 for the part of the journey inside a capped area and the normal fare for the part outside it.

A spokesperson said: "In essence, we are strongly supportive of the goals of the scheme and of the underpinning principles of better bus travel. Our concern is around the mechanism proposed to achieve this."

Paul White, director at Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) Scotland, told BBC Scotland that most operators were ready.

"Our larger members are prepared to go live on Monday morning but CPT doesn't represent every single bus operator in the Strathclyde area."

He said there was a lot to pull together in a short space of time.

"We had to understand the scope of the scheme, how reimbursement would work, how operators will be paid for carrying these services and meeting the gov's commitment," he said.

Ticket machines had to be updated and back office administration put in place.

He also said that operators have to be able to make sure the £2 scheme is not going to harm the bus network.

A similar £2 cap in England resulted in a 5% rise in bus use, he said.

"There are potential unintended consequences such as the number of additional passengers being greater than the current network can cope with.

"Dwell times is another - more passengers boarding the bus and telling the driver where they are going - that can increase boarding times that will increase journey times for other passengers."

He added: "The £2 fare cap is an eye-catching initiative that should help attract passengers and help existing passengers manage the cost of living.

"But a fares-only approach to bus support is inadequate. We really need steps to make buses more reliable, free them from congestion and we need a multi-year commitment to funding bus priority to go alongside schemes such as the £2 fare cap."

Campaigner Ellie Harrison agrees that there is more to be done although this is a good start.

She said the £2 scheme was just a partial solution.

"The fare cap is only going to address half the problem with the deregulation of bus services," she said. "It is going to do nothing to improve the quality of services."

She went on: "It's going to do nothing to put on new routes to communities who have been cut off by private bus companies cancelling services over the past few decades.

"And it is going to do nothing to integrate our bus network with the other transport modes - the subway, train and active travel.

"The only way we can achieve that is by supporting our transport authority SPT - Strathclyde Partnership for Transport - to progress its plans to bring the bus network into public control."

Transport Scotland said it had engaged closely with bus operators and participation in the scheme was voluntary.

A spokesperson said: "The cost of living remains one of the biggest challenges facing households across Scotland, which is why making public transport more affordable through the £2 bus fare cap is such an important priority for the Scottish government."