Scrapping Peak Fares on Scotrail "long overdue" - TSSA

TSSA today welcomed John Swinney’s announcement that peak rail fares will be scrapped from 1st September 2025. 

Scotland’s First Minister made the announcement as part of his government’s ‘programme for action’. It marks a U-turn by the SNP at Holyrood after it scrapped a pilot scheme last year which ended peak fares.  

TSSA’s Scottish Organiser, Gary Kelly, said, “The scrapping of peak time ScotRail fares is great news for passengers, something TSSA has campaigned for, and like many things on ScotRail long overdue. 

“Commuters have been paying peak fare rates since last September and they’ll still be paying them for another four months.

“The Scottish government’s own figures from their pilot showed that cancelling peak rail fares led to more people ditching the cars to take the train. They should never have cancelled the pilot at all.

“Commuters aren’t stupid. If it’s cheaper to take the train than the car that’s what they’ll do. Getting people out of the cars will mean less air pollution, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. It may be overdue, but this is good news.”