If you can’t afford a car, or can’t drive, you shouldn’t be trapped in your village. In a rural region like ours, buses and trains are lifelines, and they are also the fastest way to cut our carbon emissions.
What’s happening
- Council-run buses are working. Scottish Borders Council now runs 19 of the region’s 39 bus services itself, after taking six more routes in-house in 2025. Passenger numbers on council-run services have climbed sharply.
- Gaps remain. Many villages have no evening or Sunday service. In Cardrona, more than 100 residents answered a survey asking for a bus stop; months later they are still waiting to hear the results. In Innerleithen, residents have petitioned for the X62 to stop in the town centre.
- The railway still stops at Tweedbank. Extending the Borders Railway to Hawick and Carlisle is at the business case stage. Hawick has had no railway since 1969.
What Greens have already delivered
Free bus travel for everyone under 22, and an end to peak rail fares on ScotRail.
Our position
- Free buses for everyone. Start with all under-30s, with a £2 fare cap on every route on the way.
- Grow public ownership. Protect and expand the council’s own bus services, and fund community transport so no village is cut off.
- A minimum service guarantee for every rural community. The goal: every village, every hour, from early morning to late evening.
- Buses that meet trains. Timetables that connect at Tweedbank and Berwick, and one ticket across bus and rail.
- Hawick to Carlisle. The extension is in the Scottish Greens’ 2026 manifesto. We want a construction date, not more studies, with a new station at Hawick as the first step.
