Glaswegians urged to 'choose public transport' over festive period

Glasgow City Council has launched a campaign asking the public to "choose public transport" if they are heading in and out of town this festive season.

Public transport operators have joined forces with the local authority to spread the message, hoping to encourage evening visitors to make use of the services on offer.

However, with many forced to leave the office Christmas party early to catch the last train, bus or subway home - the campaign has come under fire.

Kevin Maguire is a 20-year-old student from Penilee who relies on public transport on a daily basis.

He said: "Most of the time I will get the bus because at the moment I'm 20, so I do benefit from the government's under 21s bus pass scheme.

"That said, if I didn't get the bus for free I would absolutely not be getting the bus. It's a massive inconvenience, the timetabling is unreliable and disjointed.

"The amount of time that it takes to get from where I am into the city centre where I commute is baffling.

"A journey that could take a car 15 minutes takes me 45 minutes on the bus.

"The routes that buses and trains take are bonkers. Don't get me started on the clockwork orange.

"The subway is an archaic version of what it could be.

"The fact that you can't even get to Clydebank on the subway is a nonsense, and that's just one place.

"There are many places that are completely unserved by the subway and all it does is hold people back from experiencing what is a cracking city."

Q&A with Councillor Angus Millar

Clyde 1 News put these concerns to Glasgow City Council's transport convenor, Councillor Angus Millar.

Are you confident public transport in Glasgow is up to scratch? Is it where it needs to be to make this call during what is already a really busy time for lots of operators?

"Well, there's always work to do to improve public transport options, and while the City Council doesn't directly operate any public transport in the city, we do work really closely with public transport operators to try and seek improvements to to public transport and indeed there's a lot of good things happening in that space. I think what's really important is that people actually are aware of the opportunities, the options that are already available.

"The bus operators have come together in the city to put together the new Tripper app, which is a form of integrated ticketing across the different bus operators. That's something that I think more people really need to know about."

When lots of us are having to leave Christmas nights out early to catch the last bus, train, or subway home - will we see later services being offered?

"Public transport operators will publish their own plans for the festive period around kind of how they are adjusting their schedules, for example, over the festive period, and that will vary from different operator to different operator.

"We know that people's patterns are changing in terms of how they access the hospitality industry. People might be going out earlier and maybe going home early as well.

"Although, there are still late night transport options available, including the night buses run by different operators which which are still serving many parts of the city, and I think it's important that people are aware of those.

"We as the Council will continue to work with all public transport operators to try and improve the the range of options that are available throughout the year, throughout the the 24 hour cycle, and indeed we're doing that with a particular eye on how we can support the night time economy as well."

I have to mention the subways on a Sunday - we can't get them past 6:00pm. Is that something that we could see in the future? Is that going to ever be possible in Glasgow?

"The Council's very much in favour of extending subway hours and indeed, SPT, who run the subway in Glasgow have already committed to their ambition to extend subway hours, including on a Sunday.

"I think it's important everyone's aware of the ongoing transformation and modernisation work that's been taking place by SPT on the subway over the last few years.

"The commitment from SPT is that they will look for opportunities to extend subway hours over the weekend and and later into the evening as as that programme is completed and certainly the Council will be working with SPT and with other operators to try and increase the range of options that are available later at night for people to get to and from the city centre."

People have told us they don't feel buses are an attractive option because of unreliable timetables and very long routes. What is your response to that?

"The Council has been working closely with different operators and with SPT to try and get a sense of what the the the gaps in the city might be in terms of the the strategic bus network.

"That's been something that's been taken forward through the Glasgow Bus Partnership, which involves various different operators in the city. We'll all work together in the coming years to try and improve public transport offerings in the city."

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