Glasgow Transport Quango Sitting on £160m Cash Pile While Councils Cut Jobs and Services

McGill’s boss Sandy Easdale has blasted SPT

McGill's boss Sandy Easdale calls for Strathclyde Passenger Transport to return some of the millions it has sitting in the bank to struggling councils.

Strathclyde Passenger Transport is sitting on reserves of nearly £160million in taxpayers' cash while the councils that fund it are forced to cut jobs and services and hike taxes.

The transport body is responsible for running the Glasgow Subway and bus stations, bus stops and some subsidised bus services across the old Strathclyde region. It also oversees investment in public transport.

According to the latest accounts, SPT is debt-free and had a cool £159.3million in cash and investments at March 31, 2025, which generated £8.6m in interest during the year.

This has been criticised by McGill's Buses co-owner Sandy Easdale, who said: "SPT is funded by local councils in the region and most of them are struggling to make budget. SPT makes £8million a year in interest alone. Should this not be returned to the councils and save some teachers' jobs, house a homeless family or keep a swimming pool or library open?"

SPT reports to the SNP's national agency, Transport Scotland, and is funded by 12 councils – Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Argyll and Bute, North, South and East Ayrshire, North and South Lanarkshire and West and East Dunbartonshire.

All of them increased council tax last year with bills rising by an average of 9%, although East Dunbartonshire imposed a 13% hike on residents. Meanwhile, Glasgow City Council is facing a predicted £110m budget gap by 2028, with council leader Susan Aitken recently warning of job losses and service cuts due to the £66m bill for housing homeless asylum seekers.

Mr Easdale, who runs Scotland's largest independent bus company with brother James, continued: "SPT are deliberately holding funds back for the funding of routes and that, after all, is their job. The reason they want to franchise buses is all about control and that would allow them to keep paying themselves huge salaries."

The accounts show that chief executive Valerie Davidson picked up £178,762 in her salary last year, with finance director Lesley Aird and transport operations director Richard Robinson both earning £124,840. The reserves have fallen from last year, when SPT had a whopping £185m in cash and investments.

An SPT spokesperson said: "As has previously been explained to Mr Easdale, the annual accounts and SPT's Long Term Financial Strategy explains, balances have been specifically put aside over a number of years in order to fund the ongoing public transport investment programme, including the Subway Modernisation programme and other initiatives, including our work on bus reform. There are significant costs relating to Subway modernisation, ongoing infrastructure work and transport operations which SPT is legally committed to or are essential to ensure the continued safe operation, maintenance and upkeep of the subway infrastructure and other transport services. SPT’s revenue annual funding and annual capital grant are insufficient to cover these costs.”

"SPT has, in recent times, experienced a number of short-term positive outcomes including a reduction in staff pension contributions for two years which has now ended, and we have received more interest across various investment accounts due to increased rates on cash balances. As these cash balances reduce, so will the leave of interest earned. SPT, like much of the public sector, is reliant on annual funding allocations. In 2024/25 SPT's core capital funding was completely removed, leaving SPT to self-finance £10.2m for operationally essential and legally committed capital works in the year. In 2025/26 SPT will be required to self-finance a further £3m, with more planned in future years."

The transport body organises Scotland's biggest school run, with 40,000 pupils ferried to and from school, and operates Buchanan, East Kilbride, Hamilton, Greenock, Partick and Govan bus stations.

This article appeared in the Scottish Daily Express.