No ‘huge uptake’ in bus passengers since £2 fare cap introduced
A £2 bus fare cap has not resulted in a large increase in passengers, a council transport official has said.
The Scottish Government launched the 12-month trial on Shetland’s buses from 30 January this year, with the aim of making public transport both more affordable and more appealing.
But transport operations officer Elaine Park told a council meeting on Monday that they had not seen a large rise in the numbers taking the bus since the trial started.
“We’ve not seen a huge uptake in comparison with areas on the mainland,” she told the environment and transport committee.
“Our numbers are looking quite similar to last year.”
Park said one of the reasons could be that Shetland’s public transport was already “quite accessible in terms of affordability” before the £2 trial.
Committee chairman Moraig Lyall had questioned how successful the pilot project had been.
The cap was first introduced in the Highlands and Islands as a trial, with the Scottish Government now pledging to expand it across the country.
A £2 cap was introduced in the Strathclyde region yesterday (Monday).
Lyall meanwhile also said there has been a “number of concerns” about Shetland Islands Council’s new bus timetables, which launched last month.
She said people had complained that some services “don’t match up the way they used to do”, and asked if the council could explore the concerns and make any required changes.
Park said that though they felt the timetables were “generally quite good”, she admitted they knew it “doesn’t meet everybody’s exact needs”.
“We always like to keep an open door on feedback,” she said.
“We’re logging everything that comes in and responding to that. If any of that required any changes, of course we will look at that.”
The meeting also heard that Shetland Islands Council is going out to the procurement stage on a new app and website which will allow people to track buses in real time.
Park said that – where connectivity allows – the public would be able to see where their bus was.
It would also include information on the air and ferry services, so they were able to plan their journey.
“We’re at the first stage of the procurement stage but have to deliver that within the financial year,” Park added.
She was asked specifically about certain parts of the new bus contract, and whether any of these could be improved.
Shetland South councillor Alex Armitage said there were concerns in Lerwick that there was no night-time town service bus being offered.
However Park explained that the Scalloway and Sumburgh services at night serviced the south end of Lerwick, while other services stopped in the north end.
She said the SIC felt there was a “reasonable level of service around Lerwick at that time of night”, and that this just needed to be publicised better.
Lerwick South councillor Dennis Leask asked about the connection between the Bressay ferry and the Anderson High School on weekday mornings, which he said was a “long-running” concern.
Park said that this remained an “outstanding issue”, and said this was “something that we’re still looking at”.
“This has been brought up by councillors for that area repeatedly over the last few years,” Leask replied.
“It would be really good if we could find a solution to that.”
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
