Tales from the city-the fourth. Transports of delight.

Thank you, driver

A lesser-profiled event at the Assembly Rooms was a series of performances of Love Letters to the Public Transport System. Produced by the National Theatre of Scotland, this is a gem of a production, written, produced and performed by Molly Taylor. The premise of the monologue are a number of individual stories about love and busses, which spark other thoughts about the use we make of trains and boats and planes (or, well, busses), and the people who drive them. 

Molly Taylor

The piece cleverly interweaves individual's stories with Molly’s own attempts to contact bus and train drivers who have taken her on key journeys - and her lack of success in doing so. What it also sparked for me was a memory of my first impressions of Glasgow busses. Arriving in the city from the ‘underbelly of British capitalism’ I was struck by two things. Firstly, how no-one in Glasgow ever seemed to press a bell to get the bus to stop, getting up and standing by the driver (or on the platform) seemed to be the practice; but secondly how everybody thanked the driver on their way off! 

While the bell etiquette has changed, the #thankyoudriver  seemed to me then, (and still does) a remarkable practice that is not repeated anywhere else (Molly confirms that it isn’t the practice even in a similar city, like Liverpool). She ascribes the difference (in part) to the fact that elsewhere passengers exit busses through a centre door away from the driver, but although this has some superficial appeal, surely in Glasgow the history as elsewhere, was that busses had back platforms. What did Glasgow’s passengers do to express their gratitude then? Shout down the bus? Pass thanks to the conductor? No, I thought then, and still think that it is a positive decision by Glasgow (and, she says, other central belt passengers) to go out of their way to acknowledge people working on their behalf in public services. Despite much-publicised (and serious) increases in the abuse of our public service workers, and the rising tide of those insulated from public contact by headphones and MP3 players, it continues. Long may it do so.

The performance also touches on another (and probably linked) aspect of public transport and our reaction to it. Molly finds it impossible to actually track down the particular drivers that took her about. She does speak to drivers who have won service awards, nominated by their passengers for their care and work, but it seems very difficult to get to an individual driver (after the event) to say thanks. Or even to get the companies to respond! She contrasts this with the facilities set up to process, deal and respond to complaints. Are we become the destroyer of services? Are we so concerned with our own needs that we fail to tell people thanks for what they do for us? And more seriously, is there no room for public service operators to set up ways to reach individuals with praise, rather than only blame?

Love letters has already performed in Glasgow at the Tron, if it reappears near you, get along to see it. Quirky, humorous and ultimately positive, it is beautifully written and acted. It itself, goes some way to attempt to redress the balance. 

CBI secrecy demands opening up access to information

A little while ago I wrote in this blog about the need to extend the coverage of Freedom of Information at a time of increasing pressure on public services and the increased arguments for privatisation/outsourcing. I referred to my belief that the private sector would want to hide what they did with our cash as maybe the ravings of an old cynic.

I didn’t expect that my cynicism about private industry’s inherent prejudice against transparency to be exemplified so soon, so I want to thank David Lonsdale of the CBI (Data Chief locked in row over FOI  - The Herald - Nov 8) for demonstrating so succinctly why it is essential that private firms delivering public services must be covered by Freedom of Information Law.

The CBI is a standard bearer in the fight for more and more privatisation - meaning our money is handed to Mr Lonsdale’s members to provide our services - but now they are demanding we shouldn’t be allowed to ask what they do with our cash! What are they trying to hide?

A better case for the need for extending the coverage has rarely been outlined.

Public services - now is the time we need access to information

As we all begin to weigh up the catastrophic consequences of Gideon Osborne's cuts on our public services, it is likely, whether we are public service workers, trade unionists, community activists, campaigners or service users, that we will be seeking information on those services. All the expert opinion appears to be saying that requests under FOI are likely to increase in these circumstances.


It is therefore an appropriate time for the Scottish Government to seek to close some of the loopholes that allow bodies to slip through the net and refuse to disclose information. In particular when public services are provided by private contractors, housing associations, local council trusts, or other non-public bodies.


While technically such bodies could have always been covered by the simple decision of Ministers to designate them under Section 5 of the Act, this is in fact, the first time it has been attempted since the Act's passing in 2002.


Obviously, these 'outside bodies' make great public play about how much better they are in providing services than the old public sector, so you would think they might welcome the opportunity to promote that. After all, a commercial company that is sensitive to the needs of the public sector to be accountable for our money might have a better chance of winning contracts? 


Call me an old cynic, but my previous experience with UNISON, was that commercial companies did their damndest to hide away from the light of information provision. Private contractors tried to prevent Lothian Health Board revealing details of the PFI contract for the ERI; North Ayrshire Leisure refused to respond to a request for information as they were not a public body; and Scottish Water's PFI contracts seem to be in some twilight zone!!


That is why if you feel it is important that outside bodies doing business with the public sector must be accountable for the way they spend our money - and according the Kevin Dunion, the Scottish Information Commissioner - 'at least two thirds of the Scottish population favour extending Scotland's FOI laws to cover bodies such as housing associations, leisure trusts, PPP/PFI projects and private prisons.'  - then I suggest you might want to make your views known to the government by responding to their consultation. It is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/07/20123725/0 - and responses are due by November 2.


The proposals aren't perfect - PFI contractors in the Water service aren't covered, nor are housing associations except for the GHA - but the principle that such bodies should be covered is worth getting behind. And no time is more appropriate than just now!