As Glasgow City Council works on delivering its strategy to bring three million overnight visits annually to Glasgow by 2023, a leading nightclub operator has warned the night-time economy will only grow if improvements are made to late-night public transport.

The council plans aim to boost the local economy by more than £770m, and create 7,000 new jobs but Donald Macleod, owner of The Garage nightclub on Sauchiehall Street, said the transport situation in the wee small hours was “abysmal”.

“There’s no joined up thinking and there is no commitment from the big transport groups to help further the aims of the city and the businesses,” he said.

“We’d love to see a more vibrant night-time economy but we always seem to take one step forward and two steps back,” said Mr Macleod. “Thinking back, you’d have hundreds of thousands coming into town at the weekend, you’re not getting anywhere near that at the moment, it’s too punitive.”

In response, both Scotrail and First Group said they were open to engaging with Glasgow City Council and relevant stakeholders to discuss services, from both a demand and public safety perspective.

Glasgow City Council has set up a night-time economy commission through the City Centre Strategy Board, which will host its first meeting in May. Meetings are scheduled throughout the year with a report due to be published by the end of 2018. Within this, there is scope to look at a range of transport options.

A spokesman for Glasgow Life said: “Our destination marketing team is actively engaged in the promotion of Glasgow’s night-time economy, working closely with Scottish Enterprise and VisitScotland as well as industry partners across the city’s food and drink, event, nightlife, retail, transport and education sectors to deliver Glasgow's Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023, which provides the framework for the continued growth of the city’s wider tourism economy.”

In spite of creating four Nitezone taxi ranks, which are monitored by closed circuit television (CCTV) and marshals, one issue facing revellers heading home is the length of queues, with people waiting up to one hour at ranks on Gordon Street or Sauchiehall Street during peak periods.

Inconvenience, rather than safety, is seen by many as the barrier to staying out later.

For those leaving pubs at closing time, the last trains to depart Glasgow’s major terminals leave after midnight, including the Glasgow-Edinburgh mainline, while nine night bus routes are operated by First Glasgow.

Mr Macleod said the late-night trials of the subway was heartening and praised the introduction of night buses, though he argued that there should be 20 routes.

“To make people feel safe we need more people and they aren’t going to walk home,” he said. “Everything spins around the city centre and there aren’t enough spokes on the wheel.”

A spokesman for Scotrail said there were complexities in running trains later because of essential track and train maintenance.

“If a business case could be put forward for later trains, we would look at it,” said the spokesman.

First Glasgow said it was actively monitoring the current levels of passengers using its nine night bus routes due to the change in customers travel patterns.

Duncan Cameron, First Glasgow operations director: “If there is a demand for a service, then it is of course something that we would seriously consider.”

Among Glasgow’s other plans to boost the late-night economy are recently approved proposals to develop 90 lanes in the city centre, while its avenues initiative will see 15 tree-lined streets created, including Argyle Street and Sauchiehall Street.