‘Dangerous’ decision to withdraw Glasgow night time service, the NTIA warns

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) has called the removal of Glasgow’s night time bus service “short sighted and dangerous”.

Similar sentiments were voiced by UKHospitality Scotland’s executive director Leon Thompson who said the main concern was for the “people working in hospitality venues, who often rely on public transport to get home safely”.

In a press release on Monday (10 July), First Glasgow, the bus company that operates the city’s bus service, said the decision to withdraw the service was due to a lack of passenger numbers; it stated bus services “were regularly operating with as few as 14 passengers per hour”.

Graeme Macfarlan, commercial director at First Bus Scotland, said to ensure the service’s viability, the number of people using the services would need to treble. He added this is “not realistic”.

The late-night services, which were reintroduced a year ago, will end on 31 July. The change will impact 11 routes that operate across the city in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings with affected routes including Clydebank, Paisley, Newton Mearns, and Motherwell.

A spokesperson for the NTIA said the removal “show[s] no consideration for the safety of thousands of night workers and customers coming home in the early hours of the morning”.

Thompson added with the recent introduction of Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone, the decision to withdraw the night time bus service “represents another blow to the city’s night time economy”.

Both organisations asked Glasgow council to work with businesses and trade associations to review the position and work on a strategy to support the night time economy.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “We are very concerned about the loss of the night bus service and the impact this will have on people who need public transport late at night. We do understand the commercial operators who provide public bus services are facing significant challenges but the decision highlights again the need to look at alternative ways of running bus services in Glasgow.

“We are due to meet with First Bus to discuss the decision on the night bus, and will be engaging with partners, including Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and Transport Scotland, to identify what can be done to support the transport requirements of the night-time economy.”

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