Be it waves, wind or more likely just the internet, most of us have been surfing, but I’ll bet not many of us would think about the local bus service as the ideal vehicle for a cruise.
To work, the shops or a night out, it’s a means for getting from A to B, not a leisure pursuit or a lifestyle choice, but all that changed in 2022 when the SNP decided to splurge more taxpayers’ money on giveaways, this time to grant free bus travel to everyone under 22.
Originally to relieve students of travel costs to access their place of study, it has instead turned public transport into a mobile playground for anti-social behaviour, and now the practice of bus-surfing is a pastime for gangs of youths with nothing better to do.
Most of us will know how some young people habitually hung about in shopping precincts or outside chip shops but, particularly in the cold months, buses now provide a warm place to sit about, with the added bonus of ever-changing scenery and new faces at every stop as potential targets for abuse.
It has become particularly popular for a group of teenage girls who hop from one route to another, wherever the Lothian Buses app will take them. And most of them enjoy a good vape while they are at it, despite their use being outlawed.
I know all this because, as the shadow minister for transport in the Scottish Parliament, I spent last Saturday evening with Lothian Buses and the police to hear their views about the growing problem of anti-social behaviour.
And no-one should be in any doubt about the direct link between the rising levels of verbal and physical abuse to which drivers are being subjected and the introduction of free bus passes for under-22s, from 473 incidents in 2019 to 2581 in 2023, and that’s just Lothian Buses.
It’s now up to nearly 6000 and those who have to deal with it are in no doubt that the removal of the privilege ─ it’s not a right ─ would make a significant difference, be it the total removal of passes from offenders or a curfew so youth permits are not valid at night.
If the original justification was to remove barriers from accessing education, now its supporters argue it is important for poverty reduction.
But by that argument, we should be providing taxpayer funded drinks when they get into town and sitting around vaping on buses all night is an essential part of social interaction.
As usual, it’s argued the answer is better policing and education and therefore more public expense, and here in Edinburgh, Lothian Buses fund a police officer in their control centre to monitor onboard high-definition CCTV.
The ability to see the images live, across the bus network, allows the officer to direct patrol cars to the problems, providing much needed support to drivers. Unlike other operators, Lothian Buses records every incident and the reporting system sends alerts to managers’ phones
But unless a serious offence is identified there are no consequences for bad behaviour and other passengers’ right to travel in peace is seemingly not as important as troublemakers’ right to roam.
And in their desperation to hang onto the youth vote, don’t expect Labour or the SNP to do anything about it.
