Linlithgow MSP's delight that peak rail fares are gone for good

From Monday, September 1, ScotRail customers will pay the same fare no matter what time or day of the week they travel.

Linlithgow MSP and Scottish Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop has announced that peak fares are gone for good.

From Monday, September 1, ScotRail customers will pay the same fare no matter what time or day of the week they travel.

Fiona said: “I am pleased to announce that peak fares are gone for good. This will benefit Constituents across my Constituency who travel regularly to Glasgow and Edinburgh for work and leisure.

“This has only been possible as the Scottish Government have taken ScotRail into public ownership which has created the opportunity to deliver a railway which is run for the benefit of the people of Scotland.

“We want more people to choose to travel by public transport for work, study and leisure but we are also aware that people across the country are continuing to deal with cost of living pressures.

“Abolishing peak fares will make rail travel more affordable and I would encourage as many people as possible to take advantage of this from September 1.”

A pilot scheme scrapping peak-time ScotRail fares was introduced in 2023 but ended in September following “limited success”.

Transport Scotland said the scheme, which saw ticket prices subsidised by the Scottish government and standardised across the day, “did not achieve its aims” of persuading more people to swap car journeys for rail travel.

Passenger levels increased by a maximum of about 6.8% but the scheme required a 10% rise to be self-financing.

The Scottish Greens welcomed the government’s U-turn on the policy and called on the first minister to do more to make public transport cheaper.

In his programme for government speech earlier this year, First Minister John Swinney told MSPs: “Last year, in the face of severe budget pressures, we took the difficult decision to end the peak fares pilot on our railways.

“But now, given the work we have done to get Scotland’s finances in a stronger position, and hearing also the calls from commuters, from climate activists and from the business community, I can confirm that, from 1 September this year, peak rail fares in Scotland will be scrapped for good.

“A decision that will put more money in people’s pockets and mean less CO2 is pumped into our skies.”

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