Cheaper train fares hit the buffers - John McLellan

The peak fares suspension on ScotRail services has been axed. Picture: Peter Summers/Getty Images

Ostensibly introduced to encourage more train use after the pandemic, uptake has not reached break even and was costing the Scottish Government around £40m a year,

Even so, non-peak passengers had to subsidise peak time travellers, because the nationalised ScotRail had to jack up fares by an inflation-busting 8.6 per cent earlier this year, compared to 4.9 per cent in England.

So now peak-time commuter will be hit twice, not only paying the higher standard fare, but the rush-hour extra too, with the peak return to Glasgow from Edinburgh doubling to £31.40.

Of course, with working from home and flexible shifts, rush hour isn’t what it used to be and trains are noticeably quieter than before the pandemic.

With fares like that, services will be far busier at 3pm than an hour later, so longer term the fare structures will need to catch up with new patterns, if they ever really emerge as worker behaviour constantly adapts.

But there was more than a hint of populism about eating into train revenue, an attempt to show how much better a nationalised train service would be, but after only a few months we are back to high fares, but with fewer services.

Like all the SNP giveaways, the bills are mounting up and cheaper train fares will not be the last to go.