Rural bus passengers have been unfairly excluded from the Scottish Government’s flagship concessionary travel scheme and would gain more from having their car use subsidised, a leading transport expert has claimed.

Professor David Gray, head of the Centre for Transport Policy at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said those living outside Scotland’s towns and cities had seen little benefit from the policy of giving free bus passes to over 60s and disabled passengers due to a shortage of services.

Writing in The Herald today, he suggests a better use of public funds would be to give direct subsidy to people to pay for taxis or petrol for car journeys. Arguing that concessionary travel has “undoubtedly” benefited urban passengers, he writes: “In contrast, members of remote, rural and island households who do not own a car will make up to 50% more journeys by car than bus, either through choice or necessity”.

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