Labour claims peak time train travel up by almost 40 during ScotRail pilot

With some fares set to nearly double for Scots commuters from tomorrow, the Net Zero spokesperson for the party said the sharp increase in people using trains showed how many people were being priced out of rail, and stand to be back in the same position.

Under the peak fare re-introduction, an anytime return ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh will cost £31.40 instead of £16.20.

According to the figures released by Scottish Labour, there were 25,250,045 passengers travelling at peak times between October 2022 and July 2023, before the scheme was introduced in November 2023.

In contrast, the figures showed that the number of passengers that travelled at peak time between October 2023 and July 2024, when the scheme was in place, rose to 35,009,817 – an increase of 39%.

Sarah Boyack MSP has accused the SNP run government of “sabotaging” the scheme and said many will revert back to using cars, contradicting the SNP’s climate targets.

She said: “This is another blow to the SNP’s senseless decision to hike rail fares for working people.

“This pilot was a rare success story from an SNP government typically mired in chaos and failure.

“This scheme has been sabotaged by SNP incompetence at every turn, but peak-time passenger numbers have still soared.

“It’s clear eye-watering rail fares have forced people off of peak-time trains – and now thousands of Scots are at risk of once again being priced out of their daily commute, forced back into cars and stuck in traffic jams.

Scottish Labour Net Zero Spokesperson, Sarah Boyack MSP (Image: Sarah Boyack MSP) “The SNP is already ditching its climate targets, and now it is rowing back on measures that would help us get back on track.

“Scotland deserves affordable, reliable, green rail services – but the SNP appears to have given up on rail and abandoned climate leadership.”

Despite unions labelling the decision to re-introduce peak fares as “disastrous”, the numbers revealed by Scottish Labour are being dismissed as “misleading” by Transport Scotland, who act as an agency of the Scottish Government.

Transport Scotland said The FOI figures acquired by Scottish Labour for the Pilot are based on the sale of peak and off-peak tickets but during the Pilot both ticket types were the same price and both could be used at any time (as the UK wide ticketing system didn’t allow for the withdrawal of ScotRail off-peak tickets for purchase during the Pilot) “so they do not reflect when passengers actually travelled in the way they did before the trial”.

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A spokesperson said: The figures provided by Labour provide a misleading view of the way in which passengers numbers have increased, where and when, over the duration of the Peak Fares Removal Pilot. The claims also fail to acknowledge the extensive marketing that did take place during the trial.

“Our published analysis shows passenger numbers were already increasing, therefore any credible assertion would show that the true figures due to the pilot alone was around a maximum of 6.8%, while it would require a 10% increase for the policy to be self-financing.

“The Scottish Government has already stated it would be open to considering future subsidy to remove peak fares should UK budget allocations improve in future years.”

Similarly First Minister John Swinney has insisted that “not enough difference had been made to the patterns of travel” as a result of the scheme for the Government to continue to fund it during a time when ministers are facing “enormous” financial pressures.

“However much we wish to take forward the peak fares pilot into implementation, we simply don’t have the resources to enable that to be the case for the scale of impact that the pilot identified,” Mr Swinney said

While the peak fares are back from Monday, ScotRail will still be running a temporary timetable while the dispute between drivers and the train operator comes to an end.

The temporary timetable is expected to run until October 6, after members of the Aslef drivers’ union voted to accept the latest pay offer earlier this week.

However the union has echoed Scottish Labour’s concerns that scrapping the pilot will have a detrimental effect in Scotland’s efforts to reach net zero.

The unions Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay told The Herald that economic impact for workers would also be “catastrophic”.

He said: “Restoring peak fares is a disastrous, short-sighted decision by the Scottish Government. Scotland needs a world class class rail service and a central part of that is to make rail travel affordable, accessible and attractive to passengers and for those who want and need to use our railways more.

“Affordable rail travel will help people make that modal shift from road to rail and help Scotland meet our targets to reduce C02 emissions.  How on earth can Scotland meet our climate targets if it makes rail travel, the most environmentally sustainable way to travel, unaffordable for huge swathes of the Scottish population? 

“The economic impact for workers from restoring peak fares is equally catastrophic. Peak fares are no more than a tax on workers and they will feel the extra cost at a time where their personal finances are already under considerable pressure. The knock on effect of this decision will be workers having less to spend in their local areas, which will also impact businesses and local economies across Scotland. 

“The Scottish Government has not properly thought this decision through. We implore them to think again and find the investment, in their next budget, that is needed to help protect and grow our economy at the same time as giving Scotland a chance to meet the Government’s own climate targets and their target to reduce car travel by 2030.”