SCOTRAIL bosses have been compared to Ebenezer Scrooge after the firm announced plans to scrap their popular Kids Go Free scheme.
From January 2nd, the company, operated by Dutch transport behemoth, Abellio, will instead offer a “Kids for a Quid” deal, with parents coughing up a pound to take their offspring on a journey by train.
An insider told the Daily Record: “Commuters already pay over the odds for a service that has been blighted with delays and train cancellations.
“Now Abellio are binning one of the few things that put a smile on travellers’ faces — being able to take the kids anywhere in the country free for a day out.”
Scottish Labour’s transport spokesperson, Colin Smyth, said it was “sad to see bosses at ScotRail acting like Scrooge by taking free rail travel away from children across Scotland.”
He added: “The Kids Go Free scheme is a fantastic initiative which encourages families to use public transport and not be out of pocket for doing so.
“This rip-off fare rise will see passengers handing out even more money to a private company which is failing them time and time again.”
Manuel Cortes from the TSSA trade union said the firm had earned his “Scrooge of the year award”.
Cortes said: “Abellio ScotRail bosses have excelled themselves this year. They have achieved the worst ever results for service since records began, they have the highest ever passenger dissatisfaction rate and our members are fed up of mad management reorganisation decisions which means they are more overstretched than ever before. But this decision to slap fares on kids earns them my Scrooge of the year award.“ "One of the last decent things you could say about ScotRail was their policy to let kids go free. What a great way to treat our children - and their hard pressed parents. But subsidising Scottish children's fares is not a priority for Abellio.”
Under the new scheme, the Kids for a Quid ticket will be available with almost all adult ticket types. But Scotrail said that unlike Kids Go Free, it’ll no longer be a “group fare” ticket.
That means season ticket and flexipass holders can take up the offer, without having to repurchase an off-peak ticket themselves.
A ScotRail spokesman said: “We are committed to providing our customers with the opportunity to travel across our services and the Kids for a Quid offer is available on a wider range of adult tickets.
“This provides families with the opportunity to travel throughout the country, and take advantage of free entry to the many attractions that we have been able to secure.”
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