Protesters gathered outside the Scottish Parliament on 2 September to urge Scottish ministers to “go all the way” with promised reforms to bus services across Scotland.
The demonstration followed First Minister John Swinney’s recent announcement of a £2 fare cap in the west of Scotland during a parliamentary speech.
Campaigners welcomed the move but said the policy should be rolled out nationally within a year, rather than over the five-year period the Scottish Government currently plans.
MSPs, trade unions and bus operators took part in the protest.
Speakers included Roz Foyer, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), Susie Wood from Better Buses for Strathclyde, and Rae, founder of the Access2Transport campaign.
They raised concerns about inadequate services, private ownership and insufficient provision for wheelchair users.
Speaking to Scottish News, Foyer said: “We’re only dealing with surface-level issues; we need to go deeper and address the systemic issues.
“The situation we have in Scotland is one where many private sector companies run our bus services, and we are delivering nearly half a billion pounds in public subsidy to those private sector operators.
“Compare that with Lothian Buses here in Edinburgh: they deliver the service the public needs.
“It’s not based on commercial concerns; they pay good terms and conditions to the workforce, and any profit goes back to help fund the local authority.
“This is the model we need going forward.”
Alongside calls for public ownership of bus services, protesters want the £2 fare cap introduced across Scotland within a year.
Campaigners also want the Scottish Government to introduce a standalone Bus Services Bill, arguing it would deliver reform more quickly than including the measures in a wider Transport Bill.
They say the bill should give all of Scotland’s regional transport partnerships the power to use bus franchising.
At present, that option is only available in Strathclyde, Shetland and south-west Scotland.
Katy Clark, Scottish Labour MSP for West Scotland, said in an email that deregulation had led to poorer services and reduced provision for many communities and individuals, with routes axed and services cut over several decades.
On the £2 fare cap, she said: “In itself, it will not address many of the issues; it will not ensure that the service operators provide the bus services that passengers are calling for or that we have a comprehensive and reliable network of affordable services, so that public transport becomes the most preferable option.”
Clark also backed campaigners’ calls for wider reform of the transport system, while calling for assurances that services would remain reliable, affordable and quick enough to make public transport “the best choice when making a decision about a journey.”
Representatives from Friends of the Earth Scotland, a leading climate campaign group, and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, a coalition of organisations campaigning on climate issues, also attended the protest.
They argued that affordable, reliable bus services are central to lowering car use, cutting local air pollution and lowering Scotland’s climate emissions, with transport remaining the country’s largest source of climate pollution.
After the protest, a private session was held in the Parliament building with MSPs and select campaigners to discuss the issue in more depth.
Details from the private session have not yet been made public.