Night buses at weekends have been saved after a deal that sees McGill’s Buses step in and provide five routes.

First bus is axing seven of the 11 services they run this month and will continue to provide four.

Had the initial plan by First been allowed to go ahead it would have left Glasgow city centre with pretty much no public transport after half past midnight.

READ NEXT: Update issued on night bus services in Glasgow city centre

Think about that, Scotland’s biggest city, one that boasts about its vibrant arts, culture and hospitality where the public transport system completely shuts down.

It is a vicious circle.

First Bus said there was not enough passengers to make the routes viable.

Glasgow Times:

People already say they don’t come into the city centre or they leave early because there is no late night transport home.

Hospitality businesses close.

Fewer people come in because there are fewer buses. So more businesses close or close early.

The city’s transport system needs a shake-up. Anyone who uses it will tell you that.

Opening hours, ticket prices, ticketing connectivity, reliability are all problems that train, bus and subway users will (not so) happily talk about.

Glasgow Times:

Taxi drivers are talking about leaving the trade for a variety of reasons and it has been noted it is very difficult to get people to take their place.

It can leave people at the mercy of a surge charge by app-based private hire cars to get home after a night out.

Some people can end up spending more to get home than they do on food and drink when they are out.

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There are many problems that hospitality in Glasgow face.

Transport should be one that can be resolved to allow people to come in and out without having cut short a night out, leave a concert early or factor in prohibitive costs.

The geographical nature of the city means that many people come into Glasgow, whether it’s the city centre, Finnieston, West End, Shawlands or Dennistoun, from outside.

The council via the city centre task force has set up a group to look at who is coming into the city and for what purpose.

It is remarkable that this has not been done before.

With all the data that is captured every time a single penny is spent this is information that is surely out there just waiting to be obtained.

Or maybe it’s not that simple.

Habits have changed, people stay at home or closer to home more often than they did before, but the city centre still has plenty of reasons for people to come in at night.

Concert venues, cinemas, theatres, are all magnets that should be able to sustain wider hospitality.

The city region is big enough to sustain a vibrant city centre but there is undoubtedly a decline, it is visible.

It will require an intervention to stop it and give people reasons to come to the city. The alternative is to give up and watch the decline continue to the point the city centre really is dead.

A transport plan designed for the city centre is something that could help.

But who is able to take decisions poses a challenge.

The council wants fewer cars in the city centre. That is real. Its stated aim is to create a city centre for people not vehicles. 

A centre designed for people to come and spend time (and money) not drive through it.

The council can, and has taken these decisions, more pedestrianised spaces, Low Emission Zone, 20mph zone but providing the alternatives is not entirely in its gift.

It doesn’t own the buses, and to do so would cost hundreds of millions of pounds, so operators like First and McGill’s provide routes where they can make money.

They are commercial enterprises after all.

ScotRail runs the trains and SPT the Subway, which do have public accountability.

They are not properly connected to each other.

Councillors can convene all sorts of meetings with whichever operators they want but without some actual powers over public transport, they can’t make decisions.

Hopefully, the working group set up to investigate who is coming to the city centre will provide the necessary information.

Then, when we know who is coming, when they are coming and where they are coming from, we can design a transport system that meets their needs and can help grow the city centre again.

It’s people, buses and trains, not rocket science.