ONE of the first debates I brought to the Scottish Parliament when I was first elected was about Glasgow’s longstanding problem with air pollution.

If you had told me then that 13 years later we would still be reading the same headlines, still hearing the same platitudes instead of seeing real action, and still breathing the same toxic air that brings ill health and early death to so many people, my heart would have sunk.

In hindsight it should have been obvious that the inaction would continue. Even at that time we were still arguing the case against the M74 Northern Extension – five miles of urban motorway to dump even more traffic on to the city’s roads. In the end we won the Public Local Inquiry, which reported in our favour and recommended the scheme be scrapped. But with the support of the Labour/LibDem coalition and most other opposition parties, the report was ignored and the project went ahead.

And at such enormous cost. For that road’s price-tag of nearly three quarters of a billion pounds, Glasgow could have had an airport rail link, a refurbished subway, the much-needed Crossrail scheme, a new fleet of buses to run a proper regulated service, and the biggest investment ever in infrastructure for walking and cycling. In short, we could have had a transformation in the whole city’s transport system and a radical shift toward sustainable, low-carbon, clean and healthy transport.

It shouldn’t have surprised me that those in national and local government who had their heads stuck firmly in the 1960s were not about to come to their senses, and we’re still a very long way from seeing a shift toward modern transport policies.

In the last few weeks, I’ve read a dismal series of media reports about this problem.

Glasgow was named among 11 urban areas in the UK and Ireland that still breach air pollution safety levels. The “dear green place” also featured in data published by the World Health Organisation. This isn’t an environmental issue; this is a public health issue. We know that poor air quality leads to stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases. British Heart Foundation research has shown that tiny toxic particles from exhaust emissions stop blood vessels relaxing and contracting, which increases the risk of clots and heart attacks.

Glasgow City Council talks up its role as a partner in the Scottish Government’s Clean Air for Scotland Strategy. But such strategies are meaningless without investment. The Scottish budget for 2016/17 spends 20 times as much on motorways and trunk roads as it does on measures to improve walking and cycling. Boosting what’s termed “active” travel delivers direct health benefits and cost savings for the NHS, as well as reducing pollution for the wider community.

Meanwhile, bus passenger numbers continue to fall. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has talked of a “market failure”, with passenger numbers across the region falling by 22 per cent in the decade to 2014/15 – that’s 49 million fewer bus journeys.

SPT is now wholly or partially subsidising a third of bus services across the Strathclyde region, underlining the folly of leaving such an important public service to the whims of profit-driven private firms. These firms are hardly helping reverse this dismal trend in the sector with constant price hikes, poor-quality services and tired, old vehicles.

This week, First Bus announced plans to scrap every one of its routes in East Lothian, while just a few weeks ago my Green colleagues in the south of Scotland helped lead a campaign against bus service cuts in Dumfries and Galloway. Thousands of local residents complained to regional transport body SWestrans over plans to terminate evening and Sunday bus services in light of funding cuts.

In Glasgow, First is putting fares up so the price of a single journey can be as much as £2.15. The rise will clearly disadvantage people on low and insecure incomes. Monthly or longer season tickets are cheaper overall, but it’s an unaffordable upfront cost for many people.

By contrast, in Edinburgh, publicly owned Lothian Buses operates a flat fee of £1.60 and is widely recognised for offering comprehensive, high-quality services using increasing numbers of electric and hybrid vehicles.

The market failure we’re seeing needs urgent action, and there is a window of opportunity with the arrival of a new transport minister. Humza Yousaf is a Glasgow MSP and I suggest he commits to getting about the city by bus, bike and foot for a month or two so he appreciates the state of the problem.

This week he prioritised a visit to Traffic Scotland’s National Control Centre, which operates variable message signs on trunk roads. Well, the warning signs are flashing over our bus network. There’s more to transport than motorways, minister.





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