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Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Our buses under attack

We learnt yesterday that Lothian Buses will be putting their fares up next month, and they say the main reason for this hike is the fact that the SNP government have slashed their Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) for the coming year.

Here are the figures for the overall Scottish Government BSOG. It turns out that the coming year's grant will be the lowest since 2004!

2004-05: £56m
2005-06: £57m
2006-07: £59m
2007-08: £60m
2008-09: £63m
2009-10: £64m
2010-11: £62.5m
2011-12: £60.3m
2012-13: £50m

On top of this, the Scottish Government have capped the budget for reimbursement to bus operators for the Scotland-wide free bus travel, which will result in a drop of income from that source. And the method of calculating BSOG reimbursement has changed to the detriment of urban bus operators like Lothian Buses.

In view of this three pronged attack on Edinburgh’s bus services, and in particular Lothian Buses, I asked in yesterday's Transport Committee for an urgent cross-party meeting with the Minister for Housing and Transport to convey our deep concerns regarding the impact on future bus services in Edinburgh.

2 comments:

  1. T Parnell22 February 2012 at 10:19

    As a daily user of Lothian Buses, I am interested to know what Scottish Labour is proposing as an alternative? What budget would you cut to protect the BSOG, given that the overall Scottish Government budget is being cut by Westminster, and the Scottish Government can do nothing about that?

    It's all fine and well 'urging cross-party meetings' and showing 'deep concern', but what about the plain fact that it is Labour's financial imprudence and boom 'n' bust that is the cause of this. Celebrating over-reaching expenditure during the years of plenty, then criticising others who have to clean up after you is not helpful, and I'm afraid even as a former 'comrade', I can see straight through it.

    Perhaps Labour would like to close some schools or hospitals, or cancel some of the damaging road and bridge building projects that they share precisely the same zealous obsession for with the SNP?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Duncan22 February 2012 at 10:41

      Personally I would like to stop investment in unnecessary new roads, including the "not-a-replacement Forth crossing", and ensure public and sustainable transport receives a budgetary boost as a result.

      I think it's very dubious to imply that the Scottish Government has no choice in where it applies cuts, and to forever bounce the blame onto the UK Government. Especially since the Scottish Government is always quick to take credit for its spending decisions!

      As for the incredibly lazy generalisation about the cause of the current recession, it is frankly ludicrous to blame Labour for a global financial crisis which started in the US, and as a "former comrade" perhaps you ought to be more rational about it.

      Delete

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