We have power to nationalise Scotland's bus services - so let's use it

The Herald Scotland

26-05-2025

Worst of all, it's us that foot the bill.
Our new report: The Next Stop: The Case For Publicly Owned Buses In Scotland has shown that almost £500,000,000 of public money has been spent propping up a broken system of private bus ownership. In 2023–24, bus operators in Scotland received £439 million in public subsidy, equating to 58% of all revenue in the sector.
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Less than half of bus operators' revenue comes from passenger fares. Therefore, the public – via taxpayer money and in addition to workers spending their hard-earned cash on overpriced fare – are a major shareholder within the bus network in Scotland. But here's the kicker: the public pays into a system over which it has no agency. No say on pricing. No say on accessibility. No power over reliability or frequency. It's a system designed to exclude passengers from decision-making and rewards the dividends of shareholders.
First Glasgow, for example, paid a £25 million dividend to its parent company in 2022–23. That's set against a backdrop of bus coverage in Strathclyde and South West Scotland shrinking by a staggering 30% in the past five years. Across Scotland, bus coverage has fallen by 16%. At the same time as presiding over a fall in bus coverage, the private bus industry has produced an average gross profit margin of more than 10% over the last 20 years.
We find ourselves in the rather grotesque situation that working people are paying more for a network they don't have a say in running, with the spoils shared amongst shareholders rather than workers.
Workers losing out is a continued theme. The STUC's research highlights that many privately operated companies impose excessive working hours, lower pay and weaker protections. Contrast this with the experience at Lothian Buses, Scotland's only surviving publicly owned operator, where union representation is high, hours are family-friendly, starting pay is stronger and structured progression routes are in place.
Unsurprisingly, staff satisfaction and workforce retention are both higher. Passenger numbers are higher too.
Lothian buses are publicly owned (Image: free) 10 years ago, there were 18 million more passenger journeys in Strathclyde and South West Scotland than in South East Scotland. Now that picture is reversed – with eight million more passengers in South East Scotland. Lothian Buses has bucked the trend of rapidly falling passenger use. It is a concrete example of how public ownership delivers for the workforce and the community alike.
Lothian Buses is not a pipe dream. It's a viable model. Over the last decade, Lothian has returned £36 million in dividends to the local authority, money that wouldn't have been returned for the public good if it had been a private company. In 2023 alone, they reinvested over £4 million into maintaining vital but less profitable routes.
So not only is public ownership good for workers and good for taxpayers; it's good for the environment too. Lothian was the first operator in Scotland to convert its entire fleet to ultra-low emission vehicles and is on track to electrify fully by 2035, a pace of progress unmatched by the private sector even with £130 million of public subsidy behind them.
This is what responsible stewardship of public money can achieve. With meaningful control and fair governance, Lothian Buses is a template in how bus networks should operate: with accountability, with sustainability and with a clear public mandate.
The cost for public ownership is manageable too: £17.5 million annually for a city the size of Dundee; £44 million for the whole of Strathclyde. These are not unachievable sums. Especially not when compared to the hundreds of millions leaking into corporate balance sheets each year.
Further, the STUC estimates that 2,900 jobs could be created in bus manufacturing alone if we committed to a publicly owned electric bus transition. That is 2,900 livelihoods, built around secure, unionised work in a sustainable sector. But the status quo, where operators receive huge subsidies to buy electric buses built abroad while Scottish manufacturers struggle, must end. Public control can ensure that procurement supports Scottish jobs and skills, not just shareholder returns.
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The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 gives local authorities the power to take control through franchising or to directly operate services. Yet these powers have not been seized with urgency. The legislation exists, the public appetite is there, and the economic case is overwhelming.
So why won't politicians get on the bus then? If we are serious about transforming Scotland's transport, the empty promises of the past must be consigned to the past.
We must establish new publicly owned bus companies - arms-length or in-house - across Scotland. We must support councils and regional transport partnerships to pool resources, share infrastructure and provide stable employment. Crucially, that means treating buses as a public good, not a private opportunity.
Scotland's next parliamentary election will be a test of leadership, on climate, on inequality and on public services. Therein lies the challenge to every party, every candidate and every council leader: if you're serious about delivering accessible, affordable and sustainable transport for the people of Scotland, then you need to get on the bus for public ownership.
No more blank cheques to private monopolies. No more excuses for shrinking routes and rising fares. No more public money without public power.
Next stop: public ownership.
Roz Foyer is general secretary of the STUC