SNP plans 'free' buses for half the country...costing taxpayers £127m a YEAR
Free bus travel could be extended to cover more than half the population under SNP proposals that would cost the taxpayer £127million a year.
By MARK HOWARTH FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL
Published: 21:00 GMT, 2 January 2026 | Updated: 21:10 GMT, 2 January 2026
Free bus travel could be extended to cover more than half the population under SNP proposals that would cost the taxpayer £127million a year.
Already, 42 per cent of Scots have their trips paid for by the state, generating a bill to the public purse of around £430million annually.
But now ministers are being urged to hand the perk to a further 680,000 adults ‘in relative poverty’, which covers everyone earning less than around £23,000.
The plan by Transport Scotland (TS) and Public Health Scotland (PHS) would mean almost three million people using the network for nothing.
Last night, critics warned that, with barely any paying customers left, others would have to pick up the tab.
Scottish Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: ‘An expansion on this scale of the free bus pass scheme would undoubtedly result in more punishing tax rises for hard-pressed Scots or savage cuts to other public services.
Free bus travel could be extended to cover more than half the Scots population
‘Given the SNP’s gross mismanagement of the public finances, any such proposals are completely unaffordable and unrealistic at this time.
‘Ministers should focus on delivering affordable and reliable public transport across the country, including to rural areas.’
The latest policy intervention comes from a team of senior figures at Scottish Government agencies, including Dr Margaret Douglas, a leading consultant at PHS – part of the NHS – and Paul Sloan, TS’s head of research.
Their assessment of effective policies concludes: ‘We identified bus concessionary schemes as particularly important to improve affordability, but some low-income populations who could most benefit are not eligible.’
Scottish Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy says SNP should focus on delivering 'affordable and reliable public transport'
Currently, people under 22 or aged 60 and over, plus those claiming disability benefits, can travel free, with 2.3million Scots holding a card.
But the study – published in the journal Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives – claims the policy is ‘not reaching many who would most benefit from free bus travel’.
It adds ‘the bus concessionary schemes should be expanded, with priority given to these populations’, specifying the ‘20 per cent of working-age people (680,000)’ who are ‘living in relative poverty’.
Based on the £430million cost of the current scheme, the extension would see the bill balloon by £127million per year.