On 17 June, the Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn announced plans for new ‘Better Buses legislation’ during this parliamentary session. He claimed that he would “put the needs of passengers at the very heart of this process”. So, on Wednesday 2 September, we’re holding two events at the Parliament to tell him and other MSPs exactly what this legislation must deliver.
Scotland Demands Better Buses Rally
outside the Scottish Parliament
Wednesday 2 September 2026, 1pm
We’re inviting bus passengers and MSPs from across Scotland to show support for our campaign by joining our Rally and Photo Opp outside the Parliament at 1pm. We’ll be joined by representatives from national organisations: Friends of the Earth Scotland, Poverty Alliance, STUC, Scottish Pensioners’ Forum, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and Living Rent, as well as regional Better Buses groups from Strathclyde, Grampian and Fife.
Better Buses Drop-in for MSPs
Room TG.24 and the Garden Lobby
Wednesday 2 September 2026, 1:30-2:30pm
The Rally will be followed by a Drop-in event for MSPs inside the Parliament, where there will be further opportunity for MSPs to discuss the action required to deliver Better Buses for communities across Scotland.
Please email your MSPs to ask them to attend!
Transport Committee Evidence Session
Also on the morning of Wednesday 2 September at 9:30am we have been invited to give evidence to the Parliament’s new Transport Committee.
Our Chair Ellie Harrison will be joining the first in a series of one-off evidence sessions exploring key transport-related issues across Scotland, focussing on delivering improvements to bus services. If you’d like to come to the Committee meeting to show your support, you can get tickets from the Visitor Services desk in the Main Hall of the Parliament on the day or order tickets in advance.
New Better Buses legislation must:
- be delivered in a timely fashion – not the 6+ years it took to enact/publish statutory guidance for the bus franchising powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.
- remain solely bus-focused (i.e. be a ‘Bus Services Bill’) – so it is not subsumed into a much larger Transport Bill, as this was the key issue causing delays and mistakes with the 2019 Act.
- correct all the mistakes made in the 2019 Act – specifically removing the unnecessary ‘independent panel’ part of the bus franchising approval process, which hands undue power over Scotland’s bus services to the Traffic Commissioner: an unelected official appointed by the UK Government! The Parliament’s former NZET Committee received compelling evidence explaining why the panel must be removed in October 2024 (we have drafted the necessary amendments that must be made).
- empower all of Scotland’s Regional Transport Partnerships to use the bus franchising powers – to remove inequalities and help deliver Better Buses across the country (currently only SPT, ZetTrans and SWestrans can).
