A graph shows that ScotRail is forced to apologise in up to 40% of its tweets.
The Scottish Government has today announced that its contract with Abellio ScotRail will come to an end in 2022.
Transport Secretary Michael Matheson updated the Scottish Parliament on the current deal with the rail franchise on Wednesday.
The company’s Twitter account, a popular target for enraged commuters, has no sign of the announcement this afternoon.
But the account has been busy addressing other topics in 2019 – namely, apologising for late and cancelled trains.
Graphics expert Lesley-Anne Kelly pooled together all the occasions ScotRail had tweeted the words “sorry”, “apologies” or “apologise” this year.
The results highlight the difficulties faced by the troubled train operator, with a number of days in which more than 30% of its tweets were to say sorry.
Taking the title for most apologies in one day was March 5 2019, with 111 out of 279 tweets.
Four of the worst days
- March 5 2019 – A number of services were either delayed or cancelled from Inverness and Aberdeen due to a malfunction on the line. A broken down train at Arbroath blocked the line both north and south.
39.78% of tweets were apologies (111 of 279 tweets) - April 6 2019 – ScotRail announced on Twitter that transport officers were in attendance between Airdrie and Coatbridge Sunnyside.
35.29% of tweets were apologies (66 of 187 tweets) - March 11 2019 – Journeys were affected after an HGV collided with a bridge in Fife.
33.45% tweets were apologies (89 of 266 tweets) - February 28 2019 – A ScotRail boss on his way to a meeting was affected by a rush-hour cancellation between Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy.
32.71% of tweets were apologies (88 of 269 tweets)
Mr Matheson told fellow MSPs on Wednesday afternoon: “The benefits that our railways bring are well-rehearsed. They help our economy grow, they connect our cities ab our communities with jobs, education, health services and leisure activities.
“Our commitment to investing in rail is unquestionable.
“It is therefore vital that as we make those considerable investments we do so in a way which ensures best value both for passengers and for taxpayers.”
Transport secretary Michael Matheson said Abellio ScotRail contract will not be "re-based". Says ministers are not satisfied re-basing would be good value for money.
— Paul Malik (@C_PMalik) December 18, 2019
Mr Matheson said the current ScotRail franchise contract commenced in 2015 and was let by the Scottish Government through “open commercial competition”.
He added that the government and Abellio ScotRail could have agreed to “re-base” the contract – but that ministers have decided against this.
Instead the agreement will be terminated in March 2022.
