What feels like aeons ago now, Holyrood had a dream. It was a Scotland where life was no longer organised around having a car. We would all walk and cycle more, breathe cleaner air and our city centres would be chic Euro-style pedestrianised zones. The streets would be lined with trees and bike racks, and populated by strapping superhumans with impressive lung capacity and well-defined quads. Buses, trains and trams would be cheap and integrated, and as a result, lots of people would merrily turn their backs on the expense and hassle of maintaining a car. What happened to that dream? It got stuck in traffic.

We haven’t given up our cars – quite the reverse. Even the pandemic barely hindered the upward spiral of car ownership. There are well over three million vehicles on Scotland’s roads now, the highest number ever. For all the talk of people having comfortable, affordable, regular bus and train services, and cycle routes linking suburbs and small towns with bigger cities, the reality has lagged drastically behind the aspiration. The car is still king.

But could we finally after all these years be approaching a tipping point where leaving the car at home starts to seem like the better option? Maybe – just maybe. The capped £2 bus fare introduced in the west of Scotland this week will make it noticeably cheaper to commute, go to school or shop. For those coming into Glasgow from further afield like Lanarkshire or Ayrshire on direct buses, or travelling between towns in the Strathclyde area, the per journey saving could be as much as £8, theoretically saving some commuters hundreds of pounds a month. That’s a solid bit of help with the cost-of-living. Some........

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