I love living in Pencaitland

Fiona O’Donnell  has been the Member of Parliament for East Lothian from 6 May 2010 and lives in the constituency. From October 2011 to June 2012, she served as Shadow Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries. In 2012 she joined the House of Commons’ International Development Committee. She is also currently a member of the Commons’ Committees on Standards and Privileges. She is a Patron of the charity Malaria No More UK.

I find that taking some time to think about what an ideal future might look like is usually a productive exercise, so I was happy to dust off the crystal ball and give some thought to rural public transport in 2030.

As well as thinking of this in terms of future public policy, it is also something I am concerned about in my own life. I love living in Pencaitland, I worry about a time which is drawing increasingly close when I won’t be able to drive. Could I continue to live in this beautiful rural location? It is not just about my travel needs but also thinking about my family being able to visit me.

The vision outlined by Philip Immirzi certainly has much to commend it. As a regular user of public transport myself, I understand the frustrations that can often accompany bus and train journeys. Putting the critical cost factor to one side, lack of joined-up timetabling, frequent delays, and the often poor quality of buses and trains, can all cause service users to question whether it is better to just stick with their car rather than face the stress of using public transport. But with Scotland’s fastest growing population it is essential we do everything possible to encourage and support people to use public transport.

While not strictly speaking being public transport, I do like the idea of rural communities developing their own shared car schemes or sharing journeys and vehicles to a much greater extent. Even in very rural areas some people’s cars will sit for days or even weeks without being used, while neighbours without a car are restricted to getting around at the times public transport allows. A more imaginative approach to shared community schemes could help reduce the number of vehicles on our roads while at the same time increasing the availability of transport at the times people need it. They could also help to link people up with major public transport hubs.

On rail, the Co-operative Party, ASLEF and SERA (Socialist Environmental Resources Association) published an interesting report outlining a radically different approach to running Scotland’s rail network. Scotrail, A People’s Railway for Scotland, argues for the creation of an arms-length not-for-profit company that would operate on a long-term concessionary basis from the Scottish Government. The report suggests its governance structure would learn lessons from existing co-operatives and mutuals and be a partnership of public, private and voluntary sectors with a high level of employee involvement.

The report provides much food for thought and several of the proposals covered have the potential to bring significant benefits for rural transport, including development at stations, greater integration of coach and rail networks and, crucially, greater involvement of users and communities in the way services are shaped and provided. I am delighted that the Scottish Labour Party has recently committed to adopting such a model should it win next Scottish Parliament elections.

Labour vision is for A People’s ScotRail, a non-profit, public sector operator running our trains. That means the profits generated by passengers’ season tickets could be reinvested back into rail services. That is in stark contrast to what is happening now. There will be a new ScotRail operator in June – Abellio. They are a state owned company – but owned by the Dutch government.  So instead of Scottish money lining pockets of shareholders, it’ll be supporting public services in Holland instead. This needs to change and a People’s ScotRail could be well established by 2030 and helping to deliver that change.

The other piece of public transport jigsaw is bus services. We have seen some welcome progress with the county’s bus services over the last couple of years, but local authorities still have limited scope to act in the best interests of the communities they serve. People in East Lothian suffered the consequences of a private sector company arbitrarily deciding to withdraw many of its services with scant regard for the impact on its customers.

My colleague at Holyrood, Iain Gray MSP, is leading the way on this issue with his Private Member’s Bill to give councils more power over bus operators, including to run services as rail-style franchises.

The bill aims to give more power to local transport authorities, by giving them a greater say in how services are delivered in their area beyond the most basic terms. If this legislation were to be passed at Holyrood it could help to drive up standards of bus services across the country. It has the potential to bring particular benefits to rural communities by giving councils the ability to bundle together profitable and loss-making routes and offer them as a package bus firms can bid for. That would ensure a focus on smaller, more rural areas which are often forgotten about currently.

In conclusion, I believe there is much to be positive about as we look forward to the future of rural public transport in East Lothian. Passenger numbers continue to rise and while there are undoubtedly problems about cost, timetabling and quality of services, there is also much to welcome in terms of investment in new infrastructure and routes. Together with the possibilities presented by Iain Gray’s bill, I very much hope that rural public transport in 2030 will be significantly improved.

Published by

relbus

Better rural buses, better rural transport options