A petition has been launched to save the 'crucial' night bus services after First Glasgow announced on Monday (July 10) that they will be scrapped at the end of the month.
The buses covered travel from the city centre across Glasgow and the surrounding areas including Clydebank, Paisley, Newton Mearns, East Kilbride, Hamilton, Motherwell and Wishaw.
First Glasgow made the decision after monitoring passenger numbers over a one-year period, where they found that the services were regularly operating with as few as 14 passengers per hour.
The change will impact 11 routes that operate across the city in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings.
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Since the news broke, Glaswegians, local community groups and Glasgow City Council have expressed their concerns over the decision.
The Scottish Green Party has since launched a campaign to try and stop the changes from coming into effect later this month.
A petition, which currently has over 500 supporters, reads: "Night buses are crucial for people’s mobility and safety, and should be a vital part of a thriving night-time economy. Greens are calling for urgent, collective action to save our night buses, by designing and investing in services that meet people’s needs."
It adds: "First Bus says that uptake of Glasgow’s night bus services has been lower than expected and it has no choice but to scrap the services. That’s not acceptable.
"We are calling on First Bus to reverse its decision to scrap these services."
Transport spokesperson Christy Mearns added: “It’s incredibly disappointing that First have decided to cancel all of their night buses at such short notice, when clearly improvements could be made.
"The people of Glasgow rightly expect public transport to be widely available, as well as affordable and intuitive. This is not only vital for achieving net zero, and the world-class public transport system we need, but also to better support the night-time economy.
"If First cannot deliver this at the moment, it’s vital that partners urgently come together to protect the service and ensure a more sustainable and successful offer going forward.”
Glasgow City Council are due to meet with First Bus to discuss the decision and will be engaging with partners, including SPT and Transport Scotland to find a solution for the night-time economy.
A spokesman for the council said: “We are very concerned about the loss of the night bus service and the impact this will have on people who need public transport late at night.
“We do understand the commercial operators who provide public bus services are facing significant challenges but the decision highlights again the need to look at alternative ways of running bus services in Glasgow.
“We are due to meet with First Bus to discuss the decision on the night bus, and will be engaging with partners, including SPT and Transport Scotland, to identify what can be done to support the transport requirements of the night-time economy.
“More broadly, we will continue to work with public transport operators to support improvements to bus services in Glasgow. We are also working with partners to explore the medium-to-longer term options for greater public control of the city’s bus network that could allow us to set routes, fares and timetables.”
