Press Release
Campaigners are to lobby councillors at Strathclyde Partnership for Transport demanding affordable, joined-up public transport in Glasgow.
And the Get Glasgow Moving campaign is also taking the issue to Holyrood, backing a Scottish Parliament petition to bring bus services across Scotland back under public regulation.
Get Glasgow Moving was launched in September at a packed public meeting in the city centre. It brings together several different campaigns looking for improvements to bus, rail, underground and cycling provision in the city.
Activist Ellie Harrison said: “This (Friday 9 December 2016) is the last meeting of the Partnership this year, and we wanted to make sure they got the message that people fed up with Glasgow’s transport mess, and that we expect action in 2017.
“Glasgow is a world-class city but its transport system is second-rate. People in Glasgow deserve better. We need our bus, rail, subway and cycle services to be affordable, reliable, comfortable and joined-up.”
Get Glasgow Moving also wants SPT to get behind Unite the union’s Haud the Bus campaign for bus re-regulation.
Campaigner Johanna MacLeod said: “The privatisation and deregulation of public transport has devastated Glasgow’s bus network. Other cities like Edinburgh have managed to keep publicly-owned bus operators, or kept control under publicly-owned governing bodies like Transport for London.
“Glasgow needs the same. Get Glasgow Moving supports Unite’s Haud the Bus petition to the Scottish Parliament. We think SPT should do the same.”
Jamie Caldwell, Unite the Union’s Scotland Community Co-ordinator said: “Our petition is open until 20 December 2016, and I’d urge people to sign it and show their support making bus services put people before profit.
“In the new year, we hope the Scottish Parliament Petitions Committee will start a process that will end up with buses in Scotland being back under the control of public transport bodies like SPT.”
Members of the public can find out more about Unite’s Haud the Bus at facebook.com/unitehaudthebus
For more information about Get Glasgow Moving, join their Facebook page at facebook.com/getglasgowmoving
ENDS
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Unite the Union’s Scotland Community Co-ordinator Jamie Caldwell on 07980 721417.
Notes to editors
The media are invited to send photographers / reporters / film crews to the lobby outside SPT’s Headquarters, 131 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, G2 5JF at 11am on Friday 9 December. Campaigners will be there with flags, placards and banners.
