Publication - FOI/EIR release

ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot: FOI release

Published: 16 December 2024
Topic: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/202400436909
Date received: 14 October 2024
Date responded: 15 November 2024

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information requested

I am requesting the following information regarding the ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot:

Detailed breakdown of demographic impacts
Please provide all available data on the socio-demographic breakdown of rail users and non-rail users during the pilot period, including data by income band, age, employment status, rural vs urban areas, and other relevant demographics.
Analysis of non-rail users
Please provide any internal reports, surveys, or data that explore why non-rail users did not switch to rail travel during the pilot, including any barriers to rail use identified in these reports.
Service reliability and infrastructure issues
Please provide any internal reports or assessments on the impact of service reliability, carriage availability, and connections with other modes of transport on the outcomes of the pilot.
Marketing and communication strategies
Please provide any documents, reports, or evaluations regarding the marketing and communication strategies used to promote the fare reductions, including any insights into whether these strategies were effective in encouraging uptake in regions with lower demand increases.
Carbon savings and environmental impact
Please provide any additional environmental impact assessments conducted as part of the pilot, specifically related to reductions in road congestion, air quality improvements, noise reduction, and broader sustainability benefits beyond CO2 savings.
Projections for long-term benefits
Please provide any long-term scenario analyses or projections regarding the potential long-term benefits of extending the reduced fares, including sustained behaviour change, environmental impacts, and broader social or economic outcomes.

Response

For points 1 and 2 of your request

Some of the information you requested is available in the evaluation of the Pilot report, published on Transport Scotland’s website: ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot - Final Evaluation Report - August 2024 | Transport Scotland

In addition, please note that two waves of surveys were carried out. Results are split into 4 groups as below:
Group 1 : Rail users who did not change behaviour
Group 2 : Rail users who did change behaviour
Group 3 : Non Rail users who did change behaviour
Group 4 : Non-rail users who did not change behaviour
Attached to this letter are documents containing a significant socio-demographic breakdown across income, age, employment status, location, which provide information you have requested.

For point 3 of your request

This information is available in the evaluation of the Pilot report, published on Transport Scotland’s website, which covers impact on rail services, bus and car use. You can find the report here: ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot - Final Evaluation Report - August 2024 | Transport Scotland

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

For Point 4 of your request

Whilst we aim to provide information wherever possible, the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. Marketing strategy for the ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot was led by ScotRail as the train operating company. ScotRail may have some of the information you have requested.

You may wish to contact ScotRail at: FOI@scotrail.co.uk

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

For point 5 of your request

The published evaluation report draws on a run of the Transport Model for Scotland which was then calibrated to actual estimated outcomes. This covered car use in more detail. However the national nature of the project and the small impacts mean that the modelling did not pick up significant non-CO2 impacts – these are generally only estimated for localised schemes due to the complexity involved. The full TMFS results (uncalibrated) can be found in the file attached to this letter.

For point 6 of your request

The evaluation focused on the outcomes of the pilot itself rather than speculating on unknown future factors. Economic theory suggests that long-term effects tend to be associated with infrastructure changes as they are “permanent” – any change in fares would be reversible by future administrations.

For example, Impact Evaluation of Transport Interventions: A Review of the Evidence (adb.org) covers 91 studies all of which are infrastructure based. The economic impacts of transport interventions (publishing.service.gov.uk) is similarly focused on infrastructure interventions. More specifically, there is evidence that prices is less important than service availability Effect of Price Reduction and Increased Service Frequency on Public Transport Travel - ScienceDirect

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.