First Bus says distancing rules unsustainable after lockdown

First Bus has said social distancing will be "unsustainable" as the Covid-19 lockdown is eased.

The operator, which employs more than 3,200 people in Scotland, was responsible for 120 million passenger journeys last year.

Under the restrictions introduced to slow the spread of the virus, demand for its services has fallen by 85%.

First Bus said it would not be possible to run enough buses to comply with the current rules.

Many buses currently have seats taped off to keep passengers apart.

The operator is responsible for millions of passenger journeys each year

The company's commercial director Graeme MacFarlane said: "Going forward it's going to be a challenge.

"Because as demand increases and we need to observe social distancing guidelines we do have to put more resource out.

"That means more buses, which is more costly so that is unsustainable in the longer period."

Transport Secretary Michael Matheson told the Good Morning Scotland programme that travel would not be returning to normal.

"We will have to change our behaviour while social distancing remains in place," he said.

"So the transport system is not going to be able to provide all of the normal capacity that people would expect to be there."

'Defining moment'

Rival operator Stagecoach has, meanwhile, called for the tragedy of Covid-19 to be a "defining moment" that leads to a transformed society with greater emphasis on sustainable transport.

Chief executive Martin Griffiths said: "Among all the human tragedy, the pandemic has given us a window on what could be a positive future world - one with dramatically fewer cars on our roads, safer streets, cleaner air and less damage to our environment."

He added: "There is no reason why we all cannot return to safely using Britain's most important public transport mode.

"Transitional support is an investment that will pay back many times over in helping our citizens, communities, economies and planet recover."

Stagecoach has drawn up a six-point plan which includes a call for road and street space to be prioritised for "walking, cycling and high capacity public transport over private cars".

The operator said that many single-user car trips, which it called "the transport equivalent of disposable plastic bags", should be replaced by public transport in urban locations.