The Traffic Commissioner for Scotland has called for a scheme in Strathclyde, where bus wardens monitor bus services, to be replicated across the country.

Joan Aitken has said Strathclyde Partnership for Transport’s service compliance inspectors, or bus wardens, who have been working in councils in the SPT area since November, provided “a useful template to other authorities”.

Speaking to Holyrood, Aitken said: “I’m hoping that the Strathclyde initiative and the commitment of the councillors in that area, will serve to show councillors in other areas just what can be done with a bit of investment in having eyes and ears in the street, and professional reporting.”

The bus wardens are now working in six councils, with a roll out planned across the SPT area. They ensure operators run the services they have registered with the Traffic Commissioner, and to the standard required.

Aitken said: “I am most grateful to the councils within Strathclyde and SPT for recognising that bus passengers need and deserve resources being applied to improving the quality of bus provision in Scotland,” adding that the move was “an enormous step forward”.

“I see it as an excellent development in terms of using the current regulatory tools and the current regulatory framework to improve conditions for the bus passenger and for good operators, because good operators are let down by bad operators, that’s unfair competition. So I think it’s in the interests of good operators that this happens as well, and good operators have nothing to fear,” she added.

Responding to the comments, a spokesman for the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) Scotland, the trade association for the bus and coach industry in Scotland, said: “CPT Scotland believes that the SPT bus wardens provide a valuable addition to VOSA’s efforts to enforce bus regulations across Strathclyde.

“However, rather than extending this regional model, we would rather see the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) be given further resources to support and increase their number of Scottish bus monitors. The VOSA monitors have a Scotland-wide remit and more powers to take immediate action against bus operators who are failing to meet expected standards.”

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