Night bus services to end across Greater Glasgow

Operator First Bus has said it is withdrawing all of its night-time services across Glasgow.

First Glasgow said the decision had been taken because buses were regularly operating with as few as 14 passengers per hour.

The operator said that the late-night services, which were reintroduced a year ago, would stop on 31 July.

The change will impact 11 routes that operate across the city in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings.

The services operate from the city centre across Glasgow and the surrounding areas including Clydebank, Paisley, Newton Mearns, East Kilbride, Hamilton, Motherwell and Wishaw.

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Graeme Macfarlan, commercial director at First Bus Scotland, said passenger numbers showed there was "not enough appetite in Glasgow" for services to operate into the early hours.

He added: "Despite a wide variety of efforts by First Glasgow and partner organisations to increase the number of people using the night buses, it has not reached the level required to sustain these services beyond July.

"To do so, we would require the number of people using them each weekend to treble overnight, which is not realistic.

"We really wanted to give these services every chance to succeed which is why we have absorbed the operating losses for the last 12 months."

Night bus services operate in other parts of Scotland including the Lothians, Fife and Dundee.

Ruth Boyle from the Poverty Alliance told BBC Scotland some people may no longer be able to stay in work as a result of the decision

The Poverty Alliance says the move is "totally unjust" and will impact those on low incomes the hardest.

Policy and campaigns manager Ruth Boyle said: "We are particularly concerned about people that are working in low paid jobs and sectors like hospitality, cleaning and security.

"For many people this could be the difference between them being able to stay in paid work and actually having to leave their job because they don't have access to a car or they can't afford the price of taxis.

"These services should be accountable to people who rely on them but instead we see services being cut that are a vital lifeline to people on low incomes so we don't think the decision is good enough."

'Short sighted and dangerous'

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) Scotland urged First Bus and the council to urgently review this position.

A spokesperson said: "We are already challenged with limited transport infrastructure after 23:00 across the city.

"The removal of the night bus service across Glasgow is short sighted and dangerous, showing no consideration for the safety of thousands of night workers and customers coming home in the early hours of the morning.

"In many cities across the world the local authority drives initiatives to subsidise late night transport services, and to support an industry which at present is suffering heavily under the current trading environment."

"We would ask First Bus and Glasgow City Council to urgently review this position."