The Scottish Socialist Party is campaigning on the streets of Rutherglen and Glasgow East constituencies in favour of free public transport for all, on buses, trains, subways and ferries, to help confront both poverty and pollution.
This is a flagship policy of the SSP, which we pioneered in Scotland 25 years ago, highlighted during the 2023 Rutherglen by-election, and is a prominent part of the general election campaigns of SSP candidates BILL BONNAR (Rutherglen) and LIAM McLAUGHLAN (Glasgow East).
SSP Campaign Manager, Richie Venton, said:
“One of the many issues neglected by all the establishment parties is the climate catastrophe, and how it affects people’s daily lives.
“Chronic asthma, heart disease, and cancers are rampant in the population, and experts all accept that car pollution is a prime cause.
“Extreme weather events – like the blazing heat that killed Dr Michael Moseley in Greece, and the severe flooding in Spain and Italy at the very same time – are reminders of the climate catastrophe caused by multinational companies spewing out greenhouse gas emissions for profit over the past two centuries. Just 100 multinational corporations are responsible for 72% of all this pollution since the 1970s.
“Other parties are mostly ignoring the issue, but when they do raise it, their answer is to punish the working-class and poorest people, rather than find collective solutions to both poverty and pollution.
“Instead of punitive road toll charges, and £500-a-year workplace parking fees for each worker – as proposed by the Scottish Green Party and agreed by the SNP – we need the collective solution to pollution and poverty that free public transport offers.
“To cut car usage and air pollution, we need to offer realistic alternatives, like a massively expanded, improved, reliable Public Transport Service, run on green power, free at the point of use for all age groups.”
Bill Bonnar, SSP candidate in Rutherglen constituency, said:
“Our street campaigning for Free Public Transport is getting massive support from local people, first and foremost because they cannot afford the exorbitant fares, and because they share our concern about traffic pollution and its impact on the health of children and adults alike.
“The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) have just announced that the cost of Zone tickets is about to double! That is an outrageous tax on the working class, which will add to the obscene profits of privatised bus companies and drive even more people into staying at home in isolation, or forking out on cars to get to work, adding to air pollution.
“If buses, trains, ferries, and Glasgow’s Underground were all free at the point of use, for all regardless of age, it would greatly increase use of public transport, cut car pollution, put money in the pockets of people already suffering the cost-of-living crisis, and create tens of thousands of new jobs.”
Liam McLaughlan, SSP candidate in Glasgow East, added:
“Some people on the streets ask us ‘how would you pay for free public transport?’. It could easily be paid for.
“There would be massive savings on road accidents, NHS services, Fire and Rescue, road repairs and loss of production through traffic-jam delays in people getting to work.
“On top of that, the Scottish government hands out subsidies to the privatised bus companies – fattening the profits of First, McGill’s, Stagecoach and others – to the tune of £400m this year alone. That £400m would go a long way towards funding free travel on a fully publicly owned transport service.
“And the profits piled up by the private bus companies and rolling stock companies that manufacture trains could be taken into public ownership for a People’s Transport Service.
“Our solution to pollution also combats poverty, unlike those who want to hammer working-class people with workplace parking fees and even more road charges.
“With the diseases and suffering caused by traffic pollution, and the poverty and social isolation made worse by rocketing fares, we need urgent action. Every vote for the SSP will help us fight for free public transport.”
