An Electronic timetable system for buses in Glasgow has been out of use for more than six months.

The display boards at bus stops to provide passengers with real time information telling them when the next bus is due to arrive have been broken since last year.

And it could be another four months before they are up and running.

Instead of providing rolling updates on services and times the display permanently reads ‘Refer to timetable’.

SPT is in the process of agreeing contracts for a new system to cover a wider area of the city.

A contract was put out to tender last year to cover Glasgow and Ayrshire, with a deadline date of October 2015.

Patrick Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow, is fed up with the delays which he said is unacceptable.

He has taken up the matter with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, which is responsible for bus stops and has also written to the Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf, in a bid to get answers for passengers.

Mr Harvie said: “The electronic displays at bus stops in Glasgow have all been saying ‘please refer to timetable’ since at least December last year. I’ve been seeing this standard message since well before Christmas, and while a short break in the service between contracts might have been just an unfortunate oversight, leaving it for the best part of a year is simply unacceptable.”

He contacted SPT in February for an explanation and update and said he was told a new system would be in place soon.

Mr Harvie said: “It’s now the end of July and there is still no service in place. Whatever the cause, the result is a complete lack of reliable information about bus services.”

The MSP said the delay showed the city’s bus users were receiving a poorer service than in other major cities.

He added: “Real time information should not be seen as an exceptional or innovative achievement which takes years to implement. It is standard in countries and cities which take public transport seriously.

“Sadly it seems Glasgow’s bus users are still being taken for granted.”

A spokeswoman for SPT said: “SPT plans to upgrade around 330 Real Time Passenger Information (RPTI) displays across Greater Glasgow to use the latest mobile communications technology to provide more accurate information for passengers.

“Currently we are working closely with local bus operators who are at various stages of upgrading their ticket machines as this is needed to supply live data to the RTPI system.

“It is anticipated that the new system will be launched in Autumn 2016.”