• Free fares would be the biggest single pro-environment policy enacted
by any national government anywhere on the planet, dramatically slashing
car use and CO2 emissions.
• Free fares would be the biggest anti-poverty,
pro-social inclusion policy enacted in Scotland, or anywhere else in the
UK. It is mainly people
on low incomes who rely on public transport
• Free fares would cut the number of road accidents, reducing human
suffering and relieving pressure on the NHS and the emergency services. The
Scottish Executive estimates that road accidents cost £1.4 billion
a year to the Scottish economy. (On an average day in Scotland there is one
fatal road accident; another 8-10 involving serious injury; and 250-300 minor
accidents. The vast majority involve cars.)
• Free fares would be help
to reduce the levels of asthma and other respiratory illnesses, which have
risen steeply in line with the expansion
of road traffic
• Free fares would potentially increase the spending power of over
a million workers by between £40 and £100 a month, boosting the
overall economy.
• Free fares would increase business efficiency and productivity:
the CBI estimates that traffic congestion costs business across Britain between £15
and £20 billion a year.
• Free fares would be a major tourist attraction, bringing hundreds
of millions of pounds into the Scottish economy every year from increased
visitor numbers. An increase in tourism of just 20 per cent would bring an
extra £1 billion into the Scottish economy.
• Free fares would
attract worldwide support, especially from the global environmental movement,
and would bring pressure to bear on governments
throughout Europe and the wider world to adopt a similar policy.
•
Free fares would reduce Scotland’s
reliance on depleting oil reserves; 67 per cent of all oil produced globally
is used for transport.
Phase one would involve the re-regulation of all Scottish bus operators,
bringing the Scottish Parliament into line with the Greater London Assembly
which has powers over routes, fares etc.
Phase two would involve the establishment
of a publicly-owned bus group, which would include a national bus company
running national and cross regional
services and eight regional companies covering the Highlands and Islands,
Grampian, Tayside, Fife, Strathclyde, Lothian & Borders, Central Scotland,
and South-West Scotland; plus a national company running cross-regional services.
Each of these regional companies would be placed under the control of 11
local regions covering Orkney, Shetland, Highlands, Western Isles, Grampian,
Tayside, Fife, Strathclyde, Lothian & Borders, Central Scotland, and
South-West Scotland; plus a national company running cross-regional services.
The national bus company would be under the control of the Scottish Executive.
Phase
three would involve the removal of all bus, underground, and passenger ferry
fares (foot and cycle), accompanied by an expansion of services to
meet increased demand.
Phase four will involve the establishment of a Scottish
National Rail Company and the transfer of the Scotrail franchise to the new
publicly-owned company
when the franchise expires in 2011. The new publicly-owned rail system would
also be fare free.
Next, funding free public transport>>
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