Over the last few years along with other Scottish Co-operative Party members I’ve been campaigning for buses run in the interests of people not profit. After waiting for what seems an age, the Scottish Government has finally published a Transport Bill.

After a decade of decline in Scotland’s bus services in which passenger numbers have plummeted, the travelling public deserved something better.

The Scottish Government promised a Bill to improve bus services but the best way to improve bus services is through replacing the broken bus market with a system that is democratically accountable. It means giving people a say.

It’s bizarre that the two groups of people with the most interest in bus services have the least say in them. We will be looking to make sure the Transport Bill gives passengers and staff more control over bus services.

The People’s Bus is long overdue and so Scottish Co-operative MSPs at Holyrood will use the Transport Bill to shape better bus laws for Scotland.

Community Bus services provide a vital lifeline for many. We will be looking to make sure that the Transport Bill supports the provision of Community Bus services in our rural communities across Scotland but also more and more in urban Scotland.

And I want give communities the power to protect vital services where bus companies want to scrap unprofitable routes. I will be looking to make sure that the Transport Bill gives people to power to make particularly important bus routes “community assets”.

It’s my very strong belief that every bus service should be exactly that: a service that people have a say in and a level of control over. If you agree with me, please get on board with the campaign and sign our petition  in support of the People’s Bus.