Fare cap to boost bus travel ditched by SNP Scottish Government
A proposed flat fare bus trial to boost passenger numbers has been shelved because of lack of money and opposition from operators, transport secretary Fiona Hyslop has told MSPs.
The move comes ten months after she described such measures as “taking decisive action to ensure our transport system is fit for purpose”.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMs Hyslop also suggested that not making a pilot scheme permanent - like the trial ScotRail peak fares suspension which was scrapped in September - would be unpopular with passengers.
The bus fares scheme was one of the main recommendations of the Scottish Government's Fair Fares review nearly a year ago to increase public transport use.
However, the cabinet secretary told a Scottish Parliament committee on Tuesday that it was has not been included in the 2025-25 Scottish Budget because of the Scottish Government’s continuing funding squeeze.
.jpeg?trim=2,0,0,0&crop=&width=640&quality=65)

Public transport campaigners condemned the move as demonstrating the review had been a “complete failure” while the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), which represents operators, denied they were against a fare cap.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMs Hyslop told the net zero, energy and transport committee: “I was keen that we did have a pilot but it proved particularly problematic last year because of the emergency [financial] measures.
“Anything that was new or additional was very difficult to get financial approval.
“There are challenges with a pilot because, as we know, if you have a pilot and don’t continue it, that can cause issues from a passenger perspective.
“The bus companies themselves are less than enthusiastic.
“There isn’t provision currently in this Budget for a pilot on a fare cap, although the vast majority of fares in Scotland are under £3.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdNo specific fare cap was recommended by the review, but bus fares in England have been capped at £2 since 2022 and were increased to £3 on January 1.
The review was launched in 2021 as part of a now-expired power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Greens, with its recommendations published in March last year.
The report said: “We will develop a proposal for a bus flat fares pilot for an area-based scheme to provide flat fares on bus travel, or reduced fares on zonal integrated travel for consideration in future budgets.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMs Hyslop said at the time: “I’m pleased to be taking decisive action to ensure our transport system is fit for purpose and supports our National Transport Strategy’s priorities of reducing inequalities, taking climate action, helping to deliver inclusive economic growth and improving our health and wellbeing.”
The review’s other recommendations, which are due to be implemented, included under 22s getting free inter-island travel as foot passengers in the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, and 18 to 21-year-old islanders added to the National Ferry Concessionary Scheme for four free single trips to or from the mainland a year.
Colin Howden, director of sustainable transport campaigners Transform Scotland, said: “The Fair Fares review has been a complete failure.
“First, the peak fares removal on ScotRail was abandoned prematurely.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“Now, the plans for the flat fare ticketing trial - the other main output from the review - has also been ditched.
“Flat fare public transport ticketing has proven a success across Europe, so it’s deeply disappointing that this is not being taken forward.
“Meanwhile, public transport fares continue to rise ahead of the price of motoring, and traffic and emissions levels continue to rise.”
Scottish Greens transport spokesperson Mark Ruskell, who asked Ms Hyslop about the trial at the committee, said: “If we want more people to use public transport and leave their cars at home then we badly need to cut the cost of travel, which is exactly what a fare cap would do.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“It is disappointing the Scottish Government has not budgeted for piloting such a scheme when it was one of the main recommendations in their own policy report and has been done in other parts of the UK.”
Scottish Conservatives transport spokesperson Sue Webber said: “This is typical of this sleekit SNP Government - announce a policy to great fanfare, and then quietly ditch it when they decide they can’t afford it.
“The SNP’s stated aim is to get more people on to public transport, which they demonstrate by repeatedly hammering motorists.
“Yet there’s no consistency to this strategy when they reintroduce ScotRail peak fares and abandon a measure to make bus travel more affordable.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdScottish Labour transport spokesperson Claire Baker said: “This astonishing admission shows the SNP has given up on making buses more affordable.
"The SNP is consigning Scottish buses to a spiral of decline by failing to stop cuts to routes and rip-off fares.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland head of campaigns Caroline Rance said: “Capping bus fares, as the UK Government has done in England, would be an important step towards making public transport more affordable and attractive to people across Scotland.”
“Stories abound of vital bus routes being axed and people being cut off from work, education and accessing vital services.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdJamie Livingstone, head of anti-poverty group Oxfam Scotland, said: “Scottish ministers can’t claim there’s not enough money to make public transport cheaper while stalling on taxing private jets – the most polluting and unnecessary way to travel.”
CPT Scotland director Paul White said: “We reject the claim the bus sector is 'unenthusiastic' about an area-based flat fares pilot.
“The concept has been dropped before any proposals about how such a scheme would operate have been shared with bus operators.
“The effectiveness and value of further fares subsidy, on top of Scotland's two existing concessionary travel schemes [for under 22s ansd over 60s], is debatable, but this decision does represent a further roll back on commitments designed to increase bus use.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“If new or additional measures cannot be funded, CPT urges government to boost existing levers such as the network support grant to enable the sector to grow the bus network and consider fares reductions directly.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.