The Battle for our Buses

This year’s local elections are set to become the battle for our buses. New powers – which we fought for and won in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 – will become available later this year. These include the power to re-regulate private bus companies for the first time since Thatcher’s disastrous policy of deregulation in 1986. Known as ‘franchising’, this power will enable us to cap fares and plan routes in the public interest so that our bus networks are no longer shaped solely by where companies can make most profit. Then, we have the power to set-up new municipal bus companies capable of providing Scotland’s other regions with the same great service people enjoy in our capital on Lothian Buses.