ScotRail fares to be frozen for the next year

ScotRail fares will be frozen for the next year, the first minister has announced.

John Swinney said the move was part of the government's "resolute focus on the cost of living".

It follows the scrapping of peak rail fares, which had seen passengers pay higher prices for travelling on busy weekday trains.

The fares freeze will apply to all ScotRail tickets, including season tickets and Flexipass.

Speaking at Edinburgh Waverley station, the first minister said: "Freezing rail fares is an important way for us to keep people's costs down and keep more money in their pockets.

"This follows the removal of peak fares for good across ScotRail services – which brought fares down by up to 48%".

Peak rail fares were scrapped in September last year. Before then, many ScotRail tickets were based on the time of travel.

The higher fare price covered tickets bought for journeys before 09:15 on weekdays and certain services between 16:42 and 18:30.

Edinburgh to Glasgow peak times are now almost 50% cheaper, with trips between Perth and Dundee a third lower.

However, government-owned ScotRail was recently ordered to withdraw claims that it offers the "cheapest tickets" on its website after a watchdog ruled this was misleading.

The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint from a campaigner in finding that ScotRail had no evidence to back up the claim.

ScotRail subsequently changed the wording to say its fares offered great value for money.

The first minister has said the cost of scrapping peak fares is expected to be between £40m to £45m each year.