As restrictions continue to lift, more and more of our friends, family and neighbours receive their vaccine and we begin to get back to some sense of normality, the issues which impacted people across our communities pre-pandemic are now very much being prioritised again.

One of those concerns is our bus network. Pre-pandemic we know that buses were becoming increasingly unreliable, socially necessary routes were being cut and the cost to travel was skyrocketing.

I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, private bus companies have ultimately failed Glaswegians and now is the time as we work to rebuild our communities and address people’s anxieties around public transport to think differently and truly build a system that is fit for the future and encourages people to leave the car at home, opting for a bus instead. Real changes to allow us to tackle the ongoing climate emergency.

For me, and Scottish Labour, that means once again looking at how we can bring our buses back into public ownership. Across the UK we are seeing Labour leaders like Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, and Tracy Brabin, the mayor of West Yorkshire, putting forward plans to not only reform bus services but to ensure they are publicly-run, putting the needs of people over profit.

And that is the kind of political will that we need in Glasgow and surrounding local authorities, leadership willing to listen to communities and be pro-active in their solutions, standing up for them in the face of obstructionist central government.

I am all too aware as someone who doesn’t drive, who has lived in my ward my whole life and who relies on buses, what that means locally for people and nearby communities.

An example would be the number 4 bus service which once ran through Knightswood and Jordanhill, connecting these communities to the West End, but now goes no further than Broomhill.

For almost five years local people have been campaigning to get this service reinstated. I’m proud to work alongside them to hold FirstBus accountable for removing this popular and socially-necessary route and also to motivate people in these communities to get involved and make a noise about why we can’t let profit overtake the needs of people.

The online petition has almost 500 signatures and you can find it on 38Degrees.co.uk by searching “Give Knightswood and Jordanhill back their link to the 4 bus service”.

This is just one campaign but hopefully with your help it can be the first of many victories on our way to create a functioning bus network that is affordable, reliable, accessible and future-proof.