Bus services Scotland: Why were Glasgow's night buses cancelled?

First Glasgow has announced it will be delaying the withdrawal of its night bus services by several weeks, following the outcry. But the service still hangs in the balance. 

Here's what's been happening, and how it fits into the wider picture of bus services across Scotland: 

What is happening with buses in Glasgow?  

First Bus has announced it is bringing the city’s night service to an end, citing poor passenger numbers as the reason. 

The bus operator monitored how many people were using the night buses, but found that as few as four people per hour were using the service. 

But the decision has been hugely criticised with voices from the night-time economy, women’s safety groups, politicians and poverty campaigners speaking out.   

The closure of the night bus service is to take effect at the end of the month, and will impact 11 routes including Clydebank, Paisley, East Kilbride, Hamilton, Motherwell, Wishaw and Newton Mearns. 

Drivers of the night bus service are to keep their jobs, but will be redeployed on daytime buses. 

Duncan Cameron with Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop

What has First Bus said? 

The company has said the night bus service is “not viable” and that it has absorbed losses for a year. In an exclusive interview with The Herald, Managing Director Duncan Cameron said that A 12 month period of monitoring passenger numbers showed an average of just 4800 per month using the services in total across the 11 routes. 

READ MORE: First Glasgow boss says pub staff could drive Glasgow night buses

Mr Cameron also suggested that bar workers could be trained to drive night buss after their shifts, an idea that was met with derision.  

However, the company has re-entered talks with Glasgow City Council over the plan to axe 11 routes.   

Who are First Bus?  

First Group, the owners of First Bus, trace their routes back to the 1985 Transport Act which deregulated bus services in the UK, allowing them to be taken out of council control and run by private companies. 

Originally named Grampian Regional Transport, the firm has grown massively through mergers and acquisitions and now operates bus and rail franchises across the UK – and was even involved in the American market’s Greyhound buses before selling for hundreds of millions of pounds.

Is the company doing well?  

Very well. Herald Deputy Business Editor Scott Wright explains: “The First Bus division (which covers the UK) made an operating profit of £58.4m in the year to March 25, up from £45.2m. It was helped by government subsidies to encourage people to travel by bus because these incentives did work and led to more people travelling by bus. Total passenger revenue at First Bus increased to £660 million from £570m over the period.” 

Why are fares so expensive?  

As bus companies are private firms, they set the prices, which have been increasing year-on-year. Transport Scotland statistics show fares in Scotland have increased by 6 per cent in real terms over the last five years. However, bus services are also heavily subsided by the Scottish Government to provide concessionary travel.  

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon intervene in Glasgow night bus row

But passenger numbers are falling - number of bus passengers is down by 40.3 per cent from 392m in 2016/17 before Covid hit to 234m in 2021/22. This means that companies must raise prices to secure their profits.  

Why can cities like London and Edinburgh set prices and deals but Glasgow can’t? 

London remains a special case as its bus network is controlled by Transport for London (TFL), a local government organisation which is also responsible for the Tube network and other transport around the UK capital. Unlike Glasgow, its bus services are not de-regulated and remain in public hands.  

Likewise, Edinburgh’s buses – which have among the cheapest fares in Scotland – are controlled by the publicly-owned Lothian buses, a partnership between the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Mid Lothian and West Lothian councils. 

England has capped prices, why can’t we? 

Bus fares in England have been capped at £2 in an effort to get people to use public transport. Scotland went down a different route – providing free transport for people aged under 22 and over 60. In both cases the concessions have been funded by massive subsidies from the public purse – with around £300 million given to bus companies in Scotland.  

Are any changes coming in Scotland? 

The Transport Act of 2019 is slowly coming into force, giving local authorities the power to shake up services. Under the Act, local transport authorities are allowed to run their own bus services, franchise bus services in their areas; or enter into a Bus Service Improvement Partnerships (BSIPs) with bus operators.  

READ MORE: Glasgow's Night bus axe is an embarrassment for the city

The Act also introduces new regulations covering the way in which bus operators must provide information to local authorities when they plan to reduce or withdraw the services they provide. 

What are campaigners saying about the night bus cancellation?  

Get Glasgow Moving has been campaigning for several years to have bus services brought back under public control . The group’s spokeswoman Ellie Harrison said that Scottish Bus services are “fundamental broken”  

She said: “Key workers, women, vulnerable people who rely on these services, should not be left at the mercy of a profit-driven multinational company like First.

“We urgently need our regional transport authority, SPT, to step-up and use the new 'franchising' powers in the Transport Act 2019 to re-regulate all the private bus companies in our region.  

READ MORE: Glasgow bus operator First will stop night bus services

“Only then can bus services be planned and coordinated to serve communities' needs and to integrate seamlessly with trains and the Subway, with one simple affordable ticket for use across all modes with a daily price cap.  

“Without this massive transformation of our region's public transport, we are never going to encourage more people to start using it and deliver our pressing climate targets by 2030.” 

Have route cancellations ever been reversed? 

In 2019 Citybus announced it was withdrawing its 15 route from Milngavie to Glasgow city centre. This led to a backlash from local business owners and politicians, who said it was vital that transport was kept flowing.  

The company relented two months later, but with timetable changes which took into account congestion on the route – a major sticking point and a reason why the service was withdrawn.  

Green MSP Ross Greer was one of those who sat down with CityBus to thrash out a plan. At the time, he said: ““For as long as our buses are ran by a barely regulated free-market model though, cuts like this will continue to happen. Public transport should be ran in the interests of the public. Publicly-owned Lothian Buses in Edinburgh is the best service in the country and there’s no reason we can’t have the same here.”