A new report published by Transform Scotland calls for decisive action to transform the fortunes of Scotland’s public transport sector. The report finds that public transport can be complicated, expensive and often fails to sufficiently address accessibility concerns. The report concludes that Scotland should adopt European-style integrated ticketing to ensure public transport is simple, affordable, accessible and reliable.

The Transform Scotland report 'Fair Fares' seeks to inform the Scottish Government’s ongoing ‘Fair Fares Review’. The report reviews the cost of public vs private transport and the performance of concessionary schemes, sets out funding options, and considers transport poverty and barriers to accessibility. The report finds that the Government’s Review must prioritise affordable fares, innovative funding, accessible mobility, and integrated ticketing.

Transform Scotland director Colin Howden said:

“We need to make public transport vastly more attractive to many more people. We need this not only to tackle the climate crisis but also to make public transport financially viable for both passengers and taxpayers. To do this, it’s critical that we drive up public transport patronage through affordable fares. Failing this, we can only see a spiral of decline for public transport services.

The report’s key proposal of a simple and affordable ‘Fair Fares Card’ emulates the Austrian ‘1-2-3’ ticketing system (€1/day locally, €2/day regionally, €3/day nationwide) and allows multi-modal journeys to be made using one ticket at a fixed annual price. By comparison, while Glasgow’s SPT ZoneCard holds similarities to the Viennese €365 annual ticket, offering multi-modal mobility for a fixed price, the price ranges between £815 and £2,929 — up to eight times the price of the Austrian version.