Campaigners from several sectors have joined forces to demand that bus services be returned to public ownership.

Poverty, community, and climate activists are calling on councillors and Scottish Ministers to "take back control" of the bus network.

Ruth Boyle, policy and campaigns manager at The Poverty Alliance said: “Many of the communities our members work with say the present unregulated system is expensive, not joined up, and unreliable.

"That’s bad for all of us, but it’s particularly unjust for people on low incomes, who rely most on buses to access basic services, shopping, jobs, education and social connections.

“Our public transport system is failing the people who need it most, with implications for people’s health and wellbeing.

"Scotland has had powers over buses for nearly 25 years since the Parliament was established, but places like Manchester are leaving us behind.

“Now is the time for councils to use these long-awaited powers to regulate our buses.

"Public transport is a critical public service, and must be run with people at its heart."

Roz Foyer, STUC general secretary, added: “It’s clear that workers throughout Scotland are sick of being taken for a ride.

“Public transport should be for the people, not the profiteers.

"Amid this cost-of-living crisis, we cannot abide by companies in receipt of public money turning over millions of pounds in profits whilst providing increasingly unaffordable and inadequate bus services.

“We know fine well that municipal ownership can work.

"The Scottish Government needs to ensure transport authorities can access the funding necessary to buy bus fleets and prioritise delivering municipal services that people are demanding.”

Campaign groups and passengers have already come together as part of the Better Buses for Strathclyde campaign, calling on Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) to bring buses back under public control, as a first step towards a fully publicly-owned system.

Ellie Harrison, a campaigner with Better Buses for Strathclyde, claimed that private bus operators in Scotland receive a "massive" £329 million public subsidy to run services

She said: "Around 55% of bus company income comes directly from the taxpayer, but in the current deregulated system we have no control over the way services are run.

“Our region’s transport authority, SPT, is currently developing the new Strathclyde Regional Bus Strategy which will set the direction of bus policy for the next 15 years.

"This offers us a once-in-generation opportunity to end the chaos caused by deregulation, bring buses back into public control and ensure that public money is used to provide the services that people need."

Ellie added: “The Scottish Government must fund regional transport authorities, like SPT, so they can get franchising done, and set up new publicly-owned operators for each region. We can’t be left behind.”

Rosie Hampton, just transition campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said that improving the bus service could help mitigate climate pollution from transport across the country,

She said: "Buses should be run as the vital public service that they are, like education or health.

"By bringing them into public control, our transport authorities can make sure that they are run to meet the needs of communities, rather than to make a profit.

"Affordable, accessible public transport is essential to allow people to leave their cars at home.” 

Scotland’s buses, except Lothian Buses, have been deregulated since 1986 and are now largely in private hands.

Lothian Buses is co-owned by councils in the former Lothian region.

It comes as a new franchising power became available today (December 4) in Scotland as part of the Transport Act passed in 2019.

A franchising system, used for London's red buses, will allow regional transport authorities to set fares, bus standards, routes, and ticketing.

A similar system was put in place in Greater Manchester in September with Merseyside looking to follow.