ScotRail 'needs bums on seats' as revenue dips

ScotRail needs to get “bums back on seats” after the train operator’s revenue fell by more than £100 million a year during the Covid pandemic, its managing director has said.

Alex Hynes said that the pandemic had changed consumer behaviour, adding: “When consumer behaviour changes so much, we have to change with it.”

With services provided by ScotRail due to be taken into public ownership in March, Hynes said that the fall in revenue was “clearly not a sustainable situation”. He promised steeper discounts on fares as ScotRail tries to get travellers back on its trains.

He said that a new timetable from May could provide more trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow on Saturdays than during the working week.

Speaking from home to delegates at