Dear readers — we’ve successfully sailed by the Ides of March without incident. And another metric has been surpassed too. Remember our goal of 500 paying subscribers by the 20 March? Well Glasgow, as ever, you’ve exceeded all expectations: we’ve just hit 520 paying members.
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This week, we’ve got stories coming about plays, pints and parks. But first: we want to hear from you! Have you got any tips or titbits about the city? Bad boss? Someone got an amazing personal story you think should be covered? A strange dispute you can’t quite understand? These are the little pieces of information that are ripe for exploration. Shoot us an email on editor@glasgowbell.co.uk.
Big story: Bus fares are going up again
What’s the story: First Bus fares are going up from 30 March, with the company citing “inflationary pressures” as well as rising fuel and maintenance costs to justify the hike in prices. The bus operator says it will make a “significant investment” in resourcing additional drivers on routes in the city.
Healthy profits and pricey hikes: First Bus aren’t exactly hurting for cash, The Aberdeen-based company posted operating profits of £204 million for 2023/2024, which is a 26% jump from the previous year. Obviously, such handsome corporate profits need to be protected, which is why the cost of inflation is seemingly being passed onto Glasgow’s passengers, with the price of several journeys set to rise again.
- Tickets impacted include the Adult FirstDay City/Local tickets, which are increasing from £5.60 to £5.90; Two-Trip City/Local tickets from £5.20 to £5.60; and Adult FirstWeek City/Local tickets from £22.50 to £24.50. An adult single will go from £2.95 to £3.10.
A growing gulf: Glasgow was already among the most expensive cities in the UK for bus travel and this forthcoming price hike only underlines a growing disparity between cities with privatised bus networks and those with public-owned services, such as London, Manchester and Edinburgh.
In London, a single bus journey costs £1.75, making an equivalent journey in Glasgow more than 43% more expensive. In Manchester, a single bus fare on any Bee Network bus is £2. This week, Manchester will complete its goal of creating a fully integrated public transport system — meaning passengers can tap in and out on trams and buses without ever exceeding a daily cap. Daily and weekly bus travel is capped at £5 and £20 respectively. Across much of England, single fares are capped at £3. Scotland does not operate a cap.
The long and winding road (to franchising): Glasgow, as well as cities such as Birmingham, are attempting to follow in Manchester’s footsteps by franchising their networks — but it’s an arduous journey to get there, especially in Scotland.
“It’s completely mad that bus fares are unregulated — we’ve had this system since 1986, when buses were deregulated and it’s time for change,” says Ellie Harrison who runs the Better Buses for Strathclyde campaign. The group wants to bring the bus network back into public control, “so fares can be set by a public body in the public interest”, Harrison argues.
“Bus companies can just put fares up whenever they fancy, and there’s no accountability.” This, she adds, is despite bus companies across Scotland receiving over £400m a year in public subsidies.
Better buses… in three years? Strathclyde Partnership for Transport is currently consulting on the draft Strathclyde Regional Bus Strategy to franchise the bus network, but expects to take three years to develop the proposals.
“The Scottish Government has created a complete mess of a Transport Act — our powers are already more complicated than England, and England is looking to simplify the process of franchising,” says Harrison. “It’s embarrassing. The Scottish Government should be ashamed. We are lagging far, far behind England and Wales.”
- Franchising, she argues, would create transparency as SPT would plan the network, set the fares, organise the ticketing system and then contract out parts of the network to private companies, as well as the public operator which it owns. This, Harrison says, would be a step towards public ownership.
Integrated ticketing: Meanwhile, 1000 residents will be offered free public transport in a new pilot. Participants will receive a smartcard, similar to the one given to delegates during COP-26, granting them unlimited — and again, free — access to the buses, trains and subway for nine whole weeks, in aid of exploring strategies for Glasgow hitting its Net Zero targets. We’ve previously unpacked how the city might implement an integrated transport system.
Bottom line: While the council’s free public transport trial is an interesting step, it’s highly unlikely to be one that’s adopted wholesale across the city (although one can — and should! — dream). Bus franchising however, is on the horizon — if the political will is there. A salient bit of advice: if you care about cheaper, more joined-up transport, make some noise about it. With Holyrood elections on the horizon, politicians are in quite the listening mood…
Stories you might have missed:
While trailed cuts to teacher numbers in this year’s council Budget turned out to be non-existent, over in health and social care, some major paring down is being proposed. A budget paper proposing over £120m in cuts to services over the next three years will be presented to the Integration Joint Board on Wednesday, and the unions aren’t happy. GMB, UNISON and Unite are all joining forces for a lunchtime demonstration on Tuesday. “These types of cuts cannot be simply waved through and treated as a fait accompli,” Lorcan Mullen, UNISON Scotland regional organiser, told The Glasgow Times.
Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor elected to the position on a platform that included pushing for the university to divest from Israeli investments, has said a ban on a student following a pro-Palestine protest must be lifted. Hannah Taylor has been prevented from attending lectures or tutorials after she and another student sprayed the James McCune Smith Learning Hub in water soluble paint on 26 February. The pair were protesting millions in funding that Glasgow University has received from the arms industry.
Read/listen/watch: The hunt for a killer close to home
The memory of Police Scotland swooping into an Anderston church in the dying days of September 2006 is a sharp one for many Glaswegians. This new BBC Scotland documentary explores the search for Peter Tobin, the notorious killer whose crimes spread across the UK. Testimony from the forensic expert who climbed under the floorboards of St Patrick’s to preserve crucial evidence from Tobin’s final victim, student Angelika Kluk, is particularly harrowing and moving in equal measure.
We also rec:
🍴The Guardian sent TV presenter Kirsty Wark to review Margo
Did you catch… our weekend read on the chessmaster of Woodlands Road?
If you’ve been along Woodlands Road between the hours of 8–10pm in recent months, chances are you’ve seen Michael, the elderly man who sits outside Pepe’s Piri Piri, challenging Glaswegians to a game of chess.
This weekend, journalist Rory MacNeish went down for a game — and on a fascinating journey to try and find out more about the elusive chessmaster.
Readers really loved this story. “A beautiful, moving, puzzling, NewYorker-level story about Glasgow street life,” said Pat Kane (yes, as in Hue and Cry singer Pat Kane). “Bravo the @theglasgowbell”.
We can only make stories like this happen with your support. If you enjoy this type of journalism and aren’t already signed up, consider becoming a full-time member of The Bell with a paid subscription today.
Just a perfect day
Every week, one Glasgow resident runs us through their ideal way to spend a day in the city.
Suz O'Neill, 44, co-founder of Radio Buena Vida/Café Buena Vida
DAWN: One of the absolute luxuries for me now is being able to have a slow start to the morning and just sit and have a cup of coffee and maybe listen to some nice music. We're very lucky to work with the Good Coffee Cartel in the café. So dawn, if I'm up at such an ungodly hour, would definitely start with a cup of good coffee, and it would then involve going for a bit of a walk to pick up something tasty. My first choice would be one of the cardamom buns from Deanston Bakery. Very good. During the week my commute to work is the shortest way possible through Queen's Park. It's real luxury to be able to actually take the time to meander around the park, I love it. I feel like you could do a different route every day for a month, choose what suits your mood. Something that I love and don't often get time to do much of is listening to podcasts. Obviously, I'm a massive music fan and Radio Buena Vida is a music-focussed project. Sometimes it's nice as an alternative to delve down into talk-related podcasts. At the moment, I've started listening to a podcast series by Invisible Cities.
MIDDAY: This is very much inspired from when I was living in Spain: quality, informal snacking on a regular basis. So I would be much happier stopping in for a wee bite here and a wee bite there than going for a big slap up meal. I think what I am most enjoying recently on Victoria Road is Pakistani Street Food. They do the best freshly squeezed orange juice. All of their food is delicious, but they do this amazing chicken boti wrap. The staff are great. They've got a little table outside. So it's the kind of thing where you can literally just buy a little snack and eat it right there on the spot.
AFTERNOON: Fully snacked up, re-energized and ready to go. Somebody very kindly gifted us a Glasgow Film Theatre membership as a Christmas present. Going to the cinema in the afternoon, no matter what day it is, is an absolute pleasure that feels like you're skipping school and you shouldn't be there. I've never really shaken the delight at going into the cinema in the daylight and coming out and it's still daylight. I also love Street Level Photoworks. The most recent thing I went to was the Rebels and Renegades exhibition, which was two incredible photographers [Jill Furmanovsky and Sheila Rock] — both women who hadn't worked together, but were taking photos of the music industry, the punk scene and the DIY 80s New Romantics. It was really interesting, because the exhibition celebrates both of their work together, whereas quite often, and I think particularly for women, it would be common to pit two artists against each other to make it competitive. I thought it was really wonderful that someone had curated this exhibition celebrating both women together.
DUSK: My background is working in wine, and I've been very lucky to be able to do that internationally. I was always really struck by the informal, non-elitist way that wine is sold abroad, often as a very down to earth, agricultural product made from the land. One of the things that I've sometimes found frustrating back in the UK is the inaccessibility and elitism around how we sell wine and how we talk about wine to people. Curious Liquids, where I used to work, is doing an exceptional job in terms of the amount and diversity of wines that they have by-the-glass at all sorts of price points and the really informal, approachable way that they talk about wine. I love it, because it's a place where you can discover new things in a way that you don't feel intimidated.
AFTER HOURS: I could go two ways here. Either it would be a leg of lamb from Shawlands Continental. You can pre-order a marinated leg of lamb, which will feed you for days and days and days. It’s absolutely delicious and almost too big to fit in a normal oven. I’d have some friends around for dinner and just chat for hours over the leftovers after having had a great meal. The other thing would be not to stuff myself with a leg of lamb so that I'm not so full that I can't go clubbing or see some live music somewhere. I really love what they're doing at the Flying Duck and Exit at the moment — supporting local talent and making space for really exciting artists coming to visit Glasgow and playing underrepresented music genres.
Unconstructive critique: LayLow
“This is a fun one, I like this one — bring on the jazz,” says LA rapper Jurnalist, launching into a track called ‘Purposes’ with the nu-jazz outfit, Kai Reesu. Luxuriating amid the bonsai plants, pillows, low lighting and laid-back revellers at Rum Shack last Tuesday, we were reminded that there really isn’t another night like LayLow, and the city’s all the better for it. Earlier on in the set, a funky number called ‘Slop’ melted into a riff on ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine’, in tribute to the late Roy Ayers. The transition was typical of the evening: smooth, flawless and heavily influenced by 70s jazz fusion, funk and 90s hip hop. So flawless was the evening in fact, that we have little in the way of critique to proffer — except, perhaps, for the band to play together a little more often.
Glasgow calendar: Celebrate Spring on Hope Street
There were points during this long winter we thought spring would never arrive, but it has, and with it a new exhibition at MacGregor Fine Art on Hope Street. Titled ‘Spring Forward: New Beginnings’, it’s the gallery’s first ever foray into exhibiting in 30 years of operation. Displayed works will celebrate the different sides of the season, which is close to proprietor Iain MacGregor’s heart — in a past life he ran a gardening business before the move into fine art. ‘Spring Forward’ runs from 22 March.
Other dates for your diary:
🗳️Do your civic duty and vote in local by-elections
Southside Central and North East, 20 March. Polling stations open from 7am.
🖌️ Flex your creativity with some free zine making
Glasgow Zine Library, 19 March, 3.30pm-8pm; free.
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