Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser has grilled the Transport Minister on ScotRail failures following a weekend of travel chaos and has called on Michael Matheson to “light a rocket” under bosses of the struggling service.
Following a weekend of cancelled services, delayed journeys and widespread travel misery the Scottish Conservative MSP tabled an urgent question at Topical Questions calling for services to improve.
Murdo also said that it is completely unacceptable for constituents in Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and Clackmannanshire to be saddled with fare rises considering performance was this poor.
In response, the Transport Minister said that he had made his feelings on the current performance of ScotRail known but would not commit to when these problems would be sorted out.
Commenting, Murdo Fraser MSP said:
“Over the course of the past weekend travellers, have had to put up with performance on our railways that has been nothing short of shambolic. Customers have struggled with cancelled services, overcrowded carriages and severe delays and this is simply not good enough.
“To add insult to injury ScotRail are planning on hiking prices in the New Year by an average of 2.8% and on scrapping the ‘Kids go Free’ promotion. Constituents across Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and Clackmannanshire are getting a particularly raw deal when it comes to value for money. Commuters wouldn’t mind so much paying more if services improved, but if anything performance is going in the opposite direction.
“I have called on the Scottish Government to light a rocket under the failing ScotRail bosses as the current situation is nowhere near good enough.”