On April 3 Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson announced that the franchise had been extended until 2014, a three-year extension.

Speaking to Holyrood, Stevenson said: “I’m quite confident that that was the best possible deal. Going to market is a hugely expensive operation, not only for the civil servants and the employing of consultants, but for any company who would be engaged in that process.”

While stating that “we do welcome it [the extension], I think the package of benefits looks very positive, and it leads to a lot of what we wanted to see as we know through our research”, Smith added: “Having said all that, I think it would have been helpful to have a little bit of insight into the process by which the package was decided.

“I think it’s a shame the opportunity was missed to have a more public debate about it. Transport Scotland is well aware of what we thought the priorities were, but I would have liked to have been a little bit closer to some of those discussions. The announcement came as a surprise, and it’s only a franchise extension, it’s not a completely new award, it was in the contemplation of the original agreement. But even so, a three-year extension is a big commitment, and I think a bit of public airing would have been helpful.”