I like trains

In October 2023, the Scottish Greens piloted a scheme to get rid of peak rail fares on all ScotRail services. The scheme meant the price of a train ticket would remain the same all day. This was a big win for commuters, but following a recent report was deemed financially unviable. Initially, the scheme was set to last six months but has been repeatedly extended until – the dreaded – 27 September 2024. 

For a full year, those travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh, for example, have all enjoyed the rush of not having to pay near double the price for a peak fare ticket. Before the scheme a peak fare ticket between Edinburgh and Glasgow cost £28.90 – for context that’s eight meal deals – the scheme reduced prices to £14.90. This is not just a classic green party eco-scheme. The SNP have been very vocally on board. First Minister John Swinney, during a visit to Edinburgh’s Waverley Station, spoke on the importance of enhancing public transport infrastructure: “We know new rail investment can create real education, business and tourism opportunities and help breathe life into communities. […] Bold initiatives such as our ScotRail Peak Fares Removal pilot help build on this investment by encouraging more people to switch from car and opt to use the train.”

The SNP extended the scheme noting it “could amount to annual savings of hundreds or thousands of pounds to regular commuters.” Wonderful, what a great choice – an easy win for voting polling numbers. Let’s not forget it is being scrapped. Sad. Why? There appears to be a lot of good will toward scrapping peak rail fare so who is to blame for the reintroduction of what Scotland’s trade union centre (STUC) is calling an “unfair tax on workers”?

Enter, the ScotRail Peak fare removal pilot report, published 20 August 2024. The Scottish Government subsidised £40m toward the removal of peak fare prices, so naturally had to check if they were getting bang for their buck. Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop said: “Although passenger levels increased to a maximum of around 6.8%, it would require a 10% increase in passenger numbers for the policy to be self-financing.” 

The report concluded “the vast majority of passengers were existing rail users making existing journeys.” This feels like classic growth not nurture mindset. The scheme is deemed unsuccessful by a metric that focuses on gaining more customers rather than building trust with pre-existing ones. The real kick in the teeth is that prices will increase for peak time travellers but because in April all ScotRail fares increased by 8.7% it won’t be jumping back to normal, it will be more. There is a real risk of alienating current customers, pushing up the prices and continued rail strikes make it look more likely people will be thinking about switching from train to car. 

Secretary of Railfuture Scotland, Jane Ann Liston commented “While any fare increase is unpleasant, passengers might be more forgiving were the Government able to show the benefits of public ownership over the next year.” Did you hear that? Public ownership. It may be more expensive and run less frequently, but it’s ours. Now all we need is some governmental ownership and maybe things will actually get done.

The report concluded: “There is strong evidence that the Pilot has helped existing users who are in work and encouraged greater rail travel amongst this group but has had a lower impact in encouraging full-time workers who did not use rail to use it.” So the scheme failed to convince people that train travel is a better option than car. People largely kept their habits. Now – and I know it’s hard – but let’s consider some other practical reasons, unrelated to the price of a ticket, why someone might not choose rail travel. 

Rail strikes in 2022 halted 90% of ScotRail services. This was a major disruption to people’s lives and not forgotten quickly. If the Scottish Government wants people to actually shift to using trains as their primary form of travel, first trust needs to be rebuilt. Trust that trains will run year round. Trust that if people ditch their car it won’t limit their ability to get where they need to go. 

Another factor that was unaddressed by the price cut is access. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) lists geographic access as one of the indicators used to identify areas with relatively high levels of deprivation. I bring this up because the results in the report noted: “There is some moderate evidence that the Pilot has encouraged rail use amongst low to middle income households whilst primarily benefiting existing users who tended to be above average income.” This is framed as evidence of the pilot’s failure but I believe this criticism shifts the purpose of the pilot away from being about the environment. The distinction is worth noting but it is also worth noting the benefits reported from switching to rail travel were consistent across all household income bands. A lot of changes to travel habits are led by the middle class who have the cash to align their habits with their values – see electric cars. If the Scottish Government wants to reach lower income households it needs to take a bigger swing and start building. 

I worry that the scheme, while well intentioned, was ultimately a short lived blip and the standard course for government intervention will continue to be: find money, throw it at crumbling infrastructure, and then blame the general public for not hopping on the train fast enough. 

My question is, if the SNP truly wants to encourage people to switch from cars to trains, why do they remain committed to projects that ultimately encourage the use of cars? I’m referring to the duelling of the A9. In the same breath as promoting the increased use of trains, Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for transport assures us the SNP will “remain committed to the duelling of the A9, a lasting investment in the connectivity of the North East. The A9 dualling programme will upgrade 83 miles of road from single to dual carriageway, making the route from Perth to Inverness safer. I can’t help thinking that the road would become safer if there were less cars on it because more people opted to take the train. Transport Scotland estimates road upgrades will cost £3.7 billion. That money – wherever it is – would fund the train subsidy for over 90 years. Now that’s long term. I’m left wondering how the SNP plans to have its planet and eat it. 
So what happens now? The Green party is pushing for the initiative to be brought back. In the meantime, Hyslop has announced the introduction of a “12-month discount on all ScotRail season tickets” and flexipass tickets will now “allow for 12 single journeys for the price of 10, used within 60 days, equivalent to a 20% discount for those who travel less frequently.” I like to think she is doing what she can for us, but we all collectively need to dream a little bigger if we are going to commit to changing how we move in the world.