The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) Scotland last Thursday teamed up with 13 operators to launch the #ChooseTheBus campaign in a bid to get people back back on buses.
The move is aimed at counteracting the effects of the ending of the Network Support Grant Plus in Scotland on 31 March. As the COVID-19 recovery plan came to an end north of the border, Scottish operators announced a series of price hikes and possible cuts in services.
First Bus, Stagecoach, Lothian and McGill’s are among the major providers to support the campaign, which – among other messages – highlights “Socialising with friends should always start with a stop.”
Paul White, Director of CPT Scotland says the ending of the support, which had been extended twice last year, could hit services hard.
“Operators will not want to make service cuts unless that have no other choice or are maybe holding back to see how if the marketing campaign has a positive impact so it’s really difficult for me to quantify in a percentage terms what level of cuts we will see,” he told routeone. “But I think it would be a fair comment to say we’ve seen some service cuts and there’s no guarantee there won’t be more.”
