Furious Glaswegians have hit out on social media as First Bus are set to hike ticket prices.
The company have said it is set to adjust the cost of selected fares including its Two-Trip, FirstWeek and First4Week tickets, from Sunday, August 4.
It comes after the bus operator had previously frozen prices across all impacted tickets for the last 16 months.
READ NEXT: First Bus to increase prices of several Glasgow tickets
However, due to 'increasing inflationary pressures related to rising fuel, energy, parts, and labour costs', they have said it is 'no longer feasible to keep fares at their previous level'.
The changes mean the Adult Two-Trip City/Local tickets will move from £5 to £5.20; the Adult FirstWeek City/Local tickets will rise from £20.40 to £22.50, and the Adult First4Week City/Local tickets will increase by just over £2 per week from £61.80 to £70.
Local commuters have been left enraged by the move, as they will now need to fork out more for travel during a cost-of-living crisis.
Taking to Facebook, one person said: "Never felt so tempted to get a car.
"The buses have been a disaster for years now. Expensive, unreliable, often cancelled and always full. I thought we were meant to be encouraging people to use public transport, not forcing them into driving."
Another person said: "As if public transport isn't expensive enough."
While a third added: "This is absolutely shocking."
A fourth person described the move as "daylight robbery".
Some suggested that taking buses back into public ownership would help the problem.
One person said: "Take the buses back into public ownership. The system (is) knackered and you see other countries are trying to make transport free or as close to that. That’s how you get people to use public transportation, and that’s how you cut down on emissions and help people financially."
READ NEXT: We don't have a park in our area, we are 'disappointed' over flats plan
Graeme Macfarlan, commercial director for First Bus Scotland, said: “At a time when other operators and rail were increasing their fares across the board, we chose to freeze our fares across a number of our ticket options earlier in the year as we wanted to absorb the inflationary rises we were experiencing in to benefit our customers.
"Unfortunately, this has reached a level where it is unsustainable and we’re regrettably having to implement a change to those specific fares.
“Like so many other transport providers, we’re facing significant rising costs across our operations, and fare increases reflect that.
"Nonetheless, we have strived to keep increases to a minimum.
"We have a diverse range of tickets available to customers meaning there is a product to suit everyone’s travel needs."
He added: “Bus remains one of the cheapest, most convenient, and sustainable ways of travelling around Glasgow.
"Through investment in new electric buses and on-board technology, we’re making great efforts to make it an even more comfortable and environmentally friendly mode of transport for the city.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel