By Alasdair Galloway
The Herald runs a shocking expose on the newly nationalised ScotRail, that it has spend £331,061 on “putting on taxis for passengers whose trains were cancelled since the Scottish Government took public ownership of ScotRail”. SNP criticised as £330k spent of taxis since ScotRail was nationalised | The Herald (heraldscotland.com)
The question of course is ScotRail’s culpability in this situation since a passenger may be stranded for reasons that ScotRail can do nothing or little about (eg emergency repairs or train breakdown). We could also consider if there is a trend here. Is it worse since ScotRail was taken under the public ownership? While the report is silent on the former (probably given the diversity of reasons and establishment of responsibility, fair enough), but we know from about half way down the report (after horror stories of three figure taxi rides from Glasgow to Wick via every station) we discover Transport Scotland report that “fewer services [had been] cancelled since ScotRail was nationalised.”
So the expose, using Freedom of Information legislation to get at the truth, in fact reveals that the public sector ScotRail has a better record, to date at least, than the private sector ScotRail (or Abellio as we knew it).
Transport Scotland also point to another factor during the period in question – industrial action in England, meaning some cross-border services would not run, but passengers still need to be looked after.
The Herald could point out that there is copious material in the report which makes the same point that I have. However, this comes only in the final half of the report, after the shock, horror data on the cost of three or four (no doubt of the most expensive) examples and the wittering of the Liberal Democrat Transport spokeswoman Jill Reilly (no, I haven’t heard of her either) who made a few ill-informed (and wrong) comments which provides a basis for the Herald’s latest bit of propaganda.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Good grief. Always the same drivel, Herald.
Try a comparison of all government run services in Scotland versus their English and Welsh counterparts and showing where privately-run ones are used instead.
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WERE ANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO GOT A FREE TAXI RIDE
HERALD READERS !!!!!!!!!
IF SO WILL THEY BE RETURNING THAT MONEY
NO POI T FLAPPING THEIR GUMS WHEN THEY STILL TAKE. ‘HANDOUTS’
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Tory P@J running with this story as well,just imagine if SR had left these passengers in limbo that would be all over MSM with BBC Scotland in the fore front.
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Coming home from Clydebank to Thurso on the day of the first big storm. First train late because of frozen points. Still (just) made the connection north. Running to perfect time until Perth. Held there because a train further up the line was delayed, so late into Inverness. The conductor advised us who to report to and I was put on a taxi for Ardguy where a bus was waiting to meet us. Arrived Thurso only 10 minutes after the published timetable said the train was due. Brilliant service and helpful staff during a period of ferocious weather. Another reason for never reason for never returning to the ‘Herald’ as a reader.
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Storms and flooding. Unpredictable. The Press would rather people died or were seriously injured than get a safe taxi. Hospital costs and care would cost far more than £331,061. Leaving people stranded. Repairs and hospital care would run into £millions.
The weather is unpredictable. Becoming more unpredictable causing the delays in travelling. More monies are saved not running the transport service than the cost of providing alternative transport. Taxis etc. A more comprehensive inclusive service. People appreciate better, good public service. Unlike some ignorant politicians trying to cause trouble and leave people stranded for longer.
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I would think that where the delay is signal or track related then ScotRail would recover the amount of such bils from Network Rail. Similarly, from the English rail companies where the cause was their strikes.
A more interesting FOI would be what the final costs were before these two options.
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This is the usual ‘Big Number fallacy’ – quote a big number (often by adding things over an extended period – provide no context, ‘frame’ it as ‘shocking’ and get a unionist politician to ‘slam’ it.
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Think Tank Reform Scotland are doing a similar thing with their “Research” Report claiming that there is “a huge number of journeys which are significantly faster by car than they are by train.” It turns out they selected 10 towns and cities and that, for the majority of journeys between them, the train is as fast or faster than by car. The ones for which this is not true are the 3 that are not on the main inter-city rail routes. No attention is paid to alternative modes of travel E.g. bus or mixed modes like bus, then train or car, then bus. It is really just contrived fault finding in the lead-up to what they hope will be a May GE.
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He has some Bol’s does Jill Reilly, list MSP, presumably emulating her glorious leader with the power stance sans big brolly, perspective lost on both… https://archive.ph/siwdn
Essentially the Herald and Lib-dems expect public condemnation over 331k for safely conducting thousands of Scotrail passengers home in the event of the company’s failure over a year, yet blithely ignore Mickey the Sniff’s individual’s limo provision at 320k over three years with the extra CMPPI (Colombian Marching Powder Protection Insurance) separately govement paid.
Dredging at it’s best…
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