Just three out of ten young Scots have claimed a free bus pass as part of the Scottish Government’s flagship scheme, figures obtained by Scottish Labour have revealed.

Across Scotland just 284,328 children and young people aged between five and 21 have been issued with a pass, out of the 949,000 who are eligible, Labour’s research showed.

That means uptake for the scheme – which opened for applications in January this year – is 30%.

The figures also showed that in 11 of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas fewer than a fifth of under-22s had a pass – with just 13.3% of those eligible in South Lanarkshire having one.

Scottish Labour transport spokesman Neil Bibby insisted the “dire” figures were a “humiliation” for the SNP and Greens – who had both committed to bring in the scheme as part of a Budget deal.

Bibby said: “Free bus passes for young people should have been a good news story but these dire figures are a humiliation for the SNP and the Greens, who have spent years talking about this card but still failed miserably to deliver it.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Economic Matters