They are due to announce their decision on Friday 15 March. GGM is doing everything they can to ramp up the pressure on SPT Board members before then, including delivering the petition to them on Friday 23 February, 9:30am ahead of their Board meeting.
The next year is crucial in our long-running fight to take our buses back into public control. So we’re joining forces with trade unions, community councils, environmental groups, students and pensioners associations and more, to launch a new region-wide Better Buses for Strathclyde campaign. Our aim is to build support for taking back public control of our bus network across the 12 Strathclyde local authorities and we would like to invite you to be part of it. The campaign will launch publicly with a rally outside SPT Head office, 131 St Vincent St, Glasgow G2 5JF on FRIDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2023, 9:30AM
Better Buses for Strathclyde is inspired by the success of the Better Buses for Greater Manchester campaign, which pushed their transport authority, TfGM, into bringing their region’s buses back into public control in order to deliver a fully-integrated, accessible and affordable public transport network called the Bee Network.
By bringing together bus users and employees from across Strathclyde’s 12 council areas, Better Buses for Strathclyde will put pressure on our regional transport authority, SPT, to utilise the new powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 to deliver a similar fully-integrated, accessible and affordable system for us – and on the Scottish Government to provide the funding required.
THE NEXT YEAR IS CRUCIAL
From September 2023 – March 2024, SPT is developing the new ‘Strathclyde Regional Bus Strategy’ which will set the direction of bus policy in our region for the next 15 years (until 2038).
This offers us a once-in-generation opportunity to end the chaos caused by bus deregulation (introduced by Thatcher in 1986), which has seen millions of miles of routes cut and fares hiked well above inflation.
We want to make sure that SPT’s strategy sets out ambitious plans to:
re-regulate the all private bus companies in our region (through ‘franchising’) so that it can plan routes to serve communities’ needs and connect seamlessly with trains, ferries and Glasgow’s Subway, with one simple, affordable ticket across all modes.
And to set-up a new publicly-owned bus company for Strathclyde (like Edinburgh’s Lothian Buses) which can start taking over routes and reinvesting profits back into expanding and improving our network.
Employment, Energy and Environment 