r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	Scunnered20
Comment	The UK Transport Act of 1985 ended regulation of bus services by councils (London was the only place to get an exemption) and opened all municipal bus services in the UK up to purchase by private entities. Like almost all other UK cities, Glasgow's buses and route rights (owned up to that point by Strathclyde Region) were quickly purchased by private entities, and are now in the hands of First Bus Group. Edinburgh is something of a freak case where the regional transport body (Lothian Regional Transport, their equivalent of SPT) simply never sold its control over their buses and rode out the initial waves of privatisation. Currently, The City of Edinburgh Council and neighbouring Lothian Councils share ownership of Lothian Buses. Together they set routes, timetables, pricing, etc. Glasgow and the vast majority of other UK cities have not had this power for the last 40 years. Hence the fragmented, expensive, disjointed transit system we have. The Scottish Parliament passed legislation in 2019 to repeal aspects of the 1985 UK legislation, and provide Scottish Councils with powers to buy back buses and run their own bus services in totality, if they want to. The full suite of legislation hasn't yet been enacted in parliament, but it's expected to be this year. Once this is done, there's nothing legally holding Glasgow back from buying back the buses and running things. There would be a tremendous up front cost, probably too much for the city itself (estimated at c.£200 million+ in a recent council report). But it would be relatively small cost for an infrastructure project of its scale for Scottish Government to take on.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/14vntlc/fyi/jrgjzgo/
Created	Mon 10th Jul 2023 10:58pm
Status	normal ()

The UK Transport Act of 1985 ended regulation of bus services by councils (London was the only place to get an exemption) and opened all municipal bus services in the UK up to purchase by private entities.

Like almost all other UK cities, Glasgow's buses and route rights (owned up to that point by Strathclyde Region) were quickly purchased by private entities, and are now in the hands of First Bus Group.

Edinburgh is something of a freak case where the regional transport body (Lothian Regional Transport, their equivalent of SPT) simply never sold its control over their buses and rode out the initial waves of privatisation. Currently, The City of Edinburgh Council and neighbouring Lothian Councils share ownership of Lothian Buses. Together they set routes, timetables, pricing, etc.

Glasgow and the vast majority of other UK cities have not had this power for the last 40 years. Hence the fragmented, expensive, disjointed transit system we have.

The Scottish Parliament passed legislation in 2019 to repeal aspects of the 1985 UK legislation, and provide Scottish Councils with powers to buy back buses and run their own bus services in totality, if they want to. The full suite of legislation hasn't yet been enacted in parliament, but it's expected to be this year. Once this is done, there's nothing legally holding Glasgow back from buying back the buses and running things. There would be a tremendous up front cost, probably too much for the city itself (estimated at c.£200 million+ in a recent council report). But it would be relatively small cost for an infrastructure project of its scale for Scottish Government to take on.