ScotRail had to spend almost £800 on a taxi journey between Wick to Inverness due to a cancelled or late train earlier this year – the most expensive rail replacement fare since the operator was nationalised.
A total of £798.30 was spent on the fare to the Highland city, which covered stops at all 20 pre-planned stations on the route.
More than £130,000 was spent on taxis for stranded passengers across Scotland in the six-month period April to September 2022 since the government took over the running of the rail service.
A total of £137,309.91 was paid out to private taxis and hire vehicles after trains were cancelled or running late.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats want the Scottish Government to reinvest money and cut fares rather than splashing out on replacement taxis.
Money should be spent on cutting fares
Jill Reilly, the party’s transport spokeswoman, said this is an “astonishing sum of money”.
It includes £29,854.38 for 230 taxi journeys in July alone.
Ms Reilly said: “It comes hot on the heels of the news that the service has racked up more than £400,000 in payments to rail users for delays.
“This is money that should be available for cutting fares and updating trains, carriages and stations.
“Commuters and rail users need a quality service that they can rely on if we are to tempt people out of private cars.”
She said the government must work with ScotRail to cut reliance on replacement buses and taxis in a bid to create a rail network that “works for all communities, for all ages and for the climate.”
Call for rail lines to be opened up
On the back of these figures, Lib Dems said fares must be cut and for two or three day a week season passes to be introduced to better reflect hybrid working.
They also wants railcard discounts to be increased to 50% for everyone under 30, and for the government to look at opening new routes.
This includes progressing plans to open up the rail line from Aberdeen to Peterhead and Fraserburgh.
The party also wants to see peak fares abolished, something the Scottish Government vowed to do in its 2023-24 budget.
Taxis are a ‘last resort’
Phil Campbell, head of customer operations at ScotRail, said the operator is committed to providing the “best possible service”.
He added: “We know how much of an inconvenience it is to customers when things don’t go to plan, and we have an obligation to help people get to where they need to be when that happens.”
Mr Campbell said using taxis is a “last resort” that is only used when no other option is available.
Government agency Transport Scotland said the focus should be on making sure ScotRail is a success after being nationalised rather than criticising the service for spending money on replacement taxis.
A spokeswoman said: “Overall, these figures represent a very small number of the passengers carried at any given time – in this case less than 0.004% of almost 34 million journeys between April and mid-October.
“Any disruption to passengers is regrettable and it is only right that ScotRail do all they can to get customers to their destinations.”
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