CAMPAIGNERS have united to demand public control of buses in the run-up to a crunch meeting of Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT) chiefs on Friday.

Trade unions, climate activists and anti-poverty groups got on board with the Better Buses for Strathclyde campaign, urging SPT to use newly restored powers to follow Manchester and Wales in adopting a franchising model.

With West Yorkshire doing the same today and South Yorkshire looking set to follow suit in the coming weeks, Get Glasgow Moving’s Ellie Harrison insisted that “councillors and members of the SPT board simply can’t allow Strathclyde to be left behind.”

She said: “They have the power to bring our buses back under public control, so that together we can start creating the world-class, joined-up public transport that people here want and deserve.”

STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said councillors “must act in the interests of the people who have elected them,” adding: “That means supporting public transport that is run for people, not profit.

“Regulation of our buses should only be the first step.”

Campaigners will lobby the SPT offices ahead of Friday’s board meeting, which starts at 9am at 131 St Vincent Street, Glasgow.