THIS past weekend Labour members from across the country met in Glasgow to attend our Scottish Conference.

It was the first in-person meeting since before the pandemic, and it was wonderful to be able to catch-up with friends after such a challenging period.

There was a constant in many of the discussions I had with fellow members: buses. Whether it was the journeys some of them had to get to Glasgow; the best way to get to places within the city or during the debates and fringes that took place.

It reaffirmed just how important an issue buses are and how much of our lives revolve around the transport network. The conclusion is clear: future of our buses must be a key point in the upcoming local government elections.

I was especially delighted to welcome Lisa Nandy, Labour’s shadow levelling up secretary, to Glasgow – famous for declaring on TV that all she wanted was “a functioning bus network”.

Scottish Labour reaffirmed – again and again – its commitment to a public transport network that is in public control.

A system that works for people, not for profit. A system that meets the challenge of achieving net-zero by 2030.

Just yesterday it would seem we saw the extent of the SNP’s ambition. The city convener for sustainability and carbon reduction announced they would be looking to cap fares at “affordable” levels.

Now that may have achieved a shiny headline on the front of the newspaper but what does it actually mean?

For a start, what is “affordable”? Why haven’t they given us any indication of what that would look like? Well because nothing has been agreed.

And whilst we’re still relying on private bus companies that continue to fail Glaswegians with cut services and sky-rocketing fares, you will forgive me for not being optimistic.

Just a few months ago, SNP politicians made big promises about integrated transport. But when I pressed council leader Susan Aitken, she confirmed that nothing had changed.

The reality is a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) isn’t the cure-all it’s been made out to be by this SNP administration. A BSIP doesn’t address the growing issue around socially necessary routes being cut. It doesn’t improve the reliability of services. It doesn’t address the issue of integrated transport and it doesn’t do anything to improve the terms and conditions of drivers.

The reality is that Glasgow, even under the SNP’s “comprehensive” new Transport Strategy, is way behind compared to Manchester, Liverpool and even Edinburgh.

We don’t need headlines weeks before an election that lack the ambition Glasgow deserves. What we need is public ownership of our buses, whether that’s Lothians style regulation or London style franchising. It’s only then that we’ll start to build the functioning bus network that is accessible, affordable, reliable and accountable. No more tinkering around the edges, Glaswegians deserve better.