By Professor John Robertson OBA

BBC Scotland on 31 January 2025:

ScotRail fares set to increase by nearly 4% – Rail fares across Scotland are set to increase by 3.8% in April.

Scottish Labour‘s transport spokeswoman Claire Baker said the price increase would “hammer” rail passengers and “consign ScotRail to a spiral of decline”. She added: “The SNP should be making rail more affordable, but instead it has hit passengers with painful fare hikes time and time again. This increase is bad for Scotland’s rail passengers, bad for our economy and bad for the environment.”

Sue Webber, transport spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “Nicola Sturgeon promised a bright new future for Scotland’s railways when nationalising it almost three years ago, but the exact opposite has happened. “Passengers will be dismayed they will have to fork out even more in the coming months for services that are frequently cancelled and delayed.”

The Scottish Liberal Democrats urged the government to keep costs down and give passengers more flexibility. The party’s transport spokesman Daniel O’Malley called for more railway lines in areas with poor transport links. “Scotland needs a cheap, reliable and frequent rail service – it’s a win-win for passengers and the planet,” he said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3lzz78djpo

Note that three opposition parties are platformed (ho ho?) to attack the SNP on this. The Greens love trains so have not been asked for comment in case they agree with the SNP.

BBC UK, today:

Rail fares rise by 4.6% in England and Wales. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp9yy0zzjd1o

4.6% is 21% more than 3.8% so fares in England and Wales will go up by a fifth more than in Scotland. Are the opposition parties at Westminster up in arms? There’s no sign of that anywhere.

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About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Bro