Glasgow bus franchising: McGill's threatens SPT with legal action

Proposals will go before the board of the transport body on Friday with activists saying they will picket the meeting.

The SPT announcement was met with immediate hostility from the millionaire owners of McGill's Group, Sandy and James Easdale, who refer to franchising as "business confiscation" and "against natural justice".

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A statement from Valerie Davidson, Chief Executive of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, said SPT's recommendations to improve bus services in Glasgow are that the body should start work on franchising using newly activated powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

However, she adds, setting up local bus franchising will require considerable time and investment.

Given this, SPT will also set up a Bus Service Improvement Partnership (BSIP) to ensure private and public sector commitments to "arrest further passenger decline and improve the bus network over the medium term".

Further, she says SPT should develop a business case for a small-scale municipal bus companies aimed at providing "socially necessary services in parts of the region where private operators are currently very limited".

Campaigners expressed concern that the BSIP would only serve as a delaying tactic, rather than pushing immediately for franchising.

Paul Sweeney, Labour MSP and founding member of grassroots transport campaign group Get Glasgow Moving, said: "There is rightful caution surrounding the recommendation for an interim Bus Service Improvement Partnership (BSIP).

"It must not hinder the shift to a franchised model, making it an unobtainable aspiration - it must instead seek to lay the groundwork for the new franchised network.

"To minimise the amount of public funds going in profits to the shareholders of private bus firms, the Scottish Government must stand ready to support SPT with their ambitious franchising plans."

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, said: “The benefits of bus franchising are clear – it gives commuters better routes, better pricing and simpler ticketing systems.

"In England, London has long shown the way, and its value is already being proven in Greater Manchester, where bus passenger numbers are up at least eight per cent since franchising was introduced in September last year.

"Compared to other cities its size in Europe, Glasgow’s economy underperforms by approximately £7 billion.

"A better functioning, integrated public transport network that helps connect people to jobs and education is a sure way to get the economy firing. Bus franchising is one step towards achieving that.

"This is the first time a Scottish city has had the opportunity to make this kind of decision. If Glasgow and the wider Strathclyde region opts for franchising, it would put them at the vanguard in Scotland and set an important precedent to other places."

Feedback to SPT from the public, Glasgow City Council and others showed concern that the current bus network is not working for the city.

Complaints include fewer and less frequent services, buses running late or not showing up at all, and rising fares - including some of the highest in the UK.

One of the reasons for these problems, Ms Davidson said, is a lack of strategic control.

However, McGill's Group pointed to research suggesting it would cost £100 million a year to subside franchised bus services in the Strathclyde region in what are straitened economic times.

McGill’s Group CEO, Ralph Roberts, said: "Franchising is effectively confiscation of a business that has been built in good faith over many years with investors funds and it raises a host of legal implications, including issues under Article 1 of ECHR.

"It goes against every sense of natural justice and we would take this to every court in the land and beyond.

"Franchising can be introduced in a different way and our opposition to it will be absolute until the threat of theft of a private business is lifted."

Mr Roberts went on to say that local authorities have failed to "do their job" and help bus users by prioritising buses over private car use.

He added: "Our advice is simple and based on proven experience from around the world - remove buses from congestion and take business confiscation off the table.

"These two simple steps will build trust and show that this is about bus users rather than a power trip for politicians and quangos, most of whom never set foot on a bus.

"SPT’s own transport plan states that bus users should get priority over car users.

"Councillors are terrified to do this as they fear they would lose their job.

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"Instead, they want taxpayers to fund an expensive and inefficient new system where buses remain stuck in traffic and car users get eleven times more road space than a bus user.

"They will do what is safe for themselves rather than what is right."

Mr Roberts was also scathing of SPT, saying he had given a presentation in 2017 to the organisation detailing challenges faced by the bus industry but that SPT had "sat on its hands" since.

He said: "I followed up in a letter to the SPT chair in 2021, again detailing the problems we have faced. Nothing has been done.

"Politicians want to play fast and loose with taxpayers’ cash, as we have seen over ferries, Prestwick Airport and the deposit return scheme.

"They have no idea how to run a bus company and should address the issues that are in their control."

The Better Buses for Strathclyde campaign recently handed a 10,000 strong petition to the board of Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT), calling on them to use new franchising powers to regulate buses across the region.

Last week, Wales became the latest area of the UK to announce plans to regulate its entire bus network, following London, where buses have always been regulated, and Manchester, which re-regulated its buses in September last year.

Liverpool has also said it will follow suit and local campaigners hope West and South Yorkshire are also on the cusp of doing so.

Franchising would give SPT control of the farebox and routes, as well as introducing uniform branding.

Ellie Harrison, chair of Get Glasgow Moving, said: "Councillors and members of the SPT board simply can’t allow Strathclyde to be left behind.

"They have the power to bring our buses back under public control, so that together we can start creating the world-class, joined-up public transport that people here want and deserve.”

Better Buses for Strathclyde is supported by the Scottish TUC, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Get Glasgow Moving, Asthma + Lung UK Scotland, APRS, We Own It, Glasgow City Parents Group, Parents for Future Scotland, Scottish Pensioners Forum, Glasgow Eco Trust, The Poverty Alliance, and many more.

Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the STUC, said: “The SPT board members are there to represent 12 different councils.

"They must act in the interests of the people who have elected them. That means supporting public transport that is run for people, not profit.

"Regulation of our buses should only be the first step towards public ownership and the Scottish Government must now provide the funding Local Authorities need to run municipal buses.”

Peter Kelly, director of The Poverty Alliance, said: "Our members tell us about the difficulties and hardship caused by the present bus system.

"They tell us that buses are too expensive, not joined-up, and often don’t run at times or to places that people need.

"We hope SPT board members share our vision for a public transport works system that gives people freedom to access jobs, training, education, healthcare, childcare, and other vital public services."

Campaigners will be lobbying outside SPT’s offices in central Glasgow in advance of Friday’s vital board meeting.

Mr Sweeney added: "Moving to a franchised model is a unique opportunity to turn back the clock on three decades of deregulation and privatisation of our buses, bringing the whole network back into public control. "We all know too well that Glasgow has a woefully inadequate bus service with the highest fares in the UK – there is now a real opportunity to change that."