By Lucy Ashton
Transport Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, announced today that the higher rates would be reintroduced on September 27th.
Peak rail fares were discontinued on a ‘trial’ basis almost a year ago, but Ms Hyslop has announced they will resume, blaming budget constraints.
She also cited “limited” success with the trial.
It comes after the SNP Scottish Government split from their Scottish Greens coalition partners in April.
Ms Hyslop claimed that the scheme failed to attract new commuters to the network.
The decision also comes at a time when rail users are struggling to source dependable transport links.
Operator ScotRail introduced a restricted ‘temporary’ timetable last month.
The company has been locked in an ongoing pay dispute with staff.
Difficulties with train drivers’ union Aslef, has resulted in members withdrawing goodwill, including Sunday and overtime working.
Meantime, around 600 services were cut.
The Scottish Government took rail services back into public ownership in April 2022, with a pledge to improve public transport.
Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie, left, condemned the move, saying: “The return to peak rail fares is a slap in the face for hard-pressed commuters at a time when they are already up against it.
“They will now be paying more for unreliable services. I know from my constituency mailbag that reliability of train services in the area is a massive issue for people.
“The Scottish Government’s pledge to improve public transport has been broken, like so many of their other pledges, and this reintroduction of peak time fares signals just that.
“People cannot be expected to transition from cars to public transport to help meet net zero targets when it is unsafe, costly and unreliable and the Scottish Government has failed to remedy that.”
Responding to SNP Minister Fiona Hyslop’s interview on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, in which she said that the Scottish Government was “prepared to go back” to scrapping peak rail fares in the future, after announcing yesterday that it would be reinstating them, Scottish Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Daniel O’Malley said: “The SNP have no real plan or long-term vision for our rail network. All they can offer is ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes.’
“ScotRail has been in public hands for more than two years, but passengers have seen only delays, disruptions and fares that continue to shoot up and up.
“Scotland needs a rail service which is reliable and that everyone can afford to travel on. That’s why Scottish Liberal Democrats would roll out more flexible ticketing options to bring down costs and encourage more people to use the network.”