People in Glasgow are to be offered free public transport after councillors signed off £225,000 on Thursday to offer the concessionary travel to 1000 residents as part of its budget for the upcoming year.
A study looking at the possibility last year and found that a smart card ticket for the bus, train and subway would be a feasible way of rolling it out and the pilot could run for nine weeks.
The study recommended that people aged between 22 and 59 years should be included but exact details on how it would work and when it will happen are yet to be released by the council.
The study also suggested that providing everyone in Glasgow between the ages of 22 and 59 with free public transport for just nine weeks would “cost approximately £95.7m excluding back office and admin costs”.
The budget paper at a council meeting this week said the test run would be “Scotland’s first universal free public transport pilot.
It added: “A thousand adults will be able to access transport free at the point of use to test the social, environmental and economic benefits of this.”
Firm Stantec Limited carried out the free public transport pilot study for the council last year.
The study said: “The intention of the pilot is to provide a mechanism through which benefits and costs of free public transport can be captured and assessed, to inform future decision making and policy setting for potential wider roll-out of the scheme across the city on a more permanent basis.
The council has a target to see a 30% reduction in vehicle kilometres by 2030 and reach net zero by then.
More people using public transport or cycling and walking in the city would help achieve that goal according to the council.
