The Scotsman Bulletin Wednesday May 07 2025 #Transport
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily video bulletin for this Wednesday.
00:04My name's Dale Miller, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our transport correspondent Alistair Dalton.
00:11Alistair, we're going to talk about the front page firstly, but that's exactly why you're on the bulletin,
00:19to speak about peak railfares being scrapped for good, John Swinney has said, or certainly the quote was to that effect.
00:27In the program for government unveiled by John Swinney on Tuesday, it was a surprise commitment that was announced by the First Minister.
00:38And it comes after this was trialled over a significant period and then effectively dropped with peak railfares returning.
00:48But now they will be scrapped again.
00:51And coincidentally, Alistair, it does come exactly pretty much 12 months out from the election.
00:57So our Deputy Political Editor, David Boll, has written about the fact that it is an election giveaway of sorts.
01:06Will it convince voters out there?
01:08It certainly pleased me as a semi-regular rail traveller when I saw it.
01:12But can you talk through the actual details of the announcement and just what you think maybe needs to be proven as well as part of the government's commitment to this?
01:23In a bit of a surprise, First Minister John Swinney yesterday said that from the 1st of September, peak railfares on ScotRail will be abolished.
01:32And not just for another trial period, but permanently, he said, which is quite interesting.
01:39So that means that if you're travelling before about nine o'clock in the morning on some routes or late afternoon,
01:45you won't have to pay often up to about twice the off-peak fare.
01:50And the key thing there is the simplicity.
01:52I was certainly finding myself confused as a not a regular rail traveller trying to remember when you can travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow in the afternoon, for instance,
02:01some at an off-peak rate and not have to pay the premium.
02:06So the reason a bit of surprise is because, as you said, this suspension of peak fares was tried for a year up to September last year.
02:23It was initially for six months, then twice extended, partly because of winter storms, disrupted travel, and then there was an industrial dispute.
02:35But despite the trial continuing for a year, the analysis of it showed that it hadn't made the impact that had been hoped.
02:46It hadn't persuaded that many people to transfer from driving to the trains.
02:52And in fact, it benefited primarily people who were already commuting, who were paying less.
02:59So it's thought to have cost about £40 million a year.
03:03And the question mark must be, how are they going to avoid that same happening again?
03:10Will they be able to persuade more people to travel from other modes?
03:17And will it eventually pay for itself?
03:21Alistair, putting my cynical hat to one side, that it is something to try and win votes in the run-up to the election,
03:30is there a bit of our messaging here as well?
03:33Because we've got a Scottish Government that in recent weeks has stepped away from its car reduction target and had aimed for 20% by 2030.
03:42Said it was not only unachievable, but the Transport Secretary also used the word unnecessary.
03:48Now, we know that this had been a focus of discussions around climate change and combating climate change.
03:54The Government's also stepped back on commitments around its heating buildings bill, which was getting people to switch from gas boilers to more friendly alternatives.
04:04Did they, as a Government, need to show a move that was about encouraging people back onto sustainable forms of transport, like trains?
04:14Was it a bit more than just the money involved and the election coming up in this case?
04:19I think there will be a relatively small impact in terms of, say, climate change emissions.
04:28Remember that rail is still a relatively small proportion of public transport.
04:34Three-quarters of public transport is bus.
04:37And it's also a relatively narrow population, so doing this might appeal to maybe some more affluent voters.
04:45And, Alistair, there was another announcement that was partially buried in the program for government papers, but it was also about Scott Rail and the blanket alcohol ban that has existed on all Scott Rail services and was introduced during the COVID pandemic has been scrapped.
05:03Can you just talk us through the details of that announcement as well and how significant you think it is?
05:08Yeah, so another surprise, this has been something that's been going on since the end of COVID, about what do you do about the 24-hour alcohol ban on Scott Rail, which is unusual compared to other train companies like LNER, between, say, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, where you can drink, on Scott Rail you can't drink.
05:29However, there's no date for that yet, and we also don't know that there will be a complete abolition.
05:37What I'm hearing is that we may go back to the pre-COVID restrictions, which you couldn't drink alcohol after 9pm, and that was in place for about a decade before the pandemic.
05:49There's been complaints from the unions, political parties, unenforceable, even the managing director, Scott Rail, saying similar to MSPs in the last week or so.
06:02However, the Scottish Government will be mindful of the means to continue to try and reduce antisocial behaviour, particularly the safety of women and girls on public transport, something that the previous transport minister, Jenny Kowoo, commissioned a report on.
06:23So relaxing the alcohol restrictions could send the wrong message.
06:28My understanding is there's a meeting tomorrow, and we should get more details of perhaps when and what those restrictions might be.
06:38You can follow all the latest and read the coverage from the Program for Government Announcements at scotsman.com.
06:45Either select the Politics tab in the navigation bar or the Transport tab, which will take you to coverage of both the alcohol ban being scrapped as well as peak fares.
06:57Please follow us on all social media channels, including Blue Sky, and go out and pick up a copy of Tamara's Scotsman for a bumper edition.
07:06We have a lift out to mark the official 80-day anniversary of VE Day.
07:11There's some terrific coverage and news features in there, including content from our heritage correspondent, Alison Campsie.
07:19It will be a terrific read and a bit of a souvenir edition.
07:22You'll also be able to read those features on our site.
07:25Alison, thanks to you and thanks to everyone else for joining us.