Thousands of ticked-off Glaswegians have signed a petition to demand “world-class transport” for the city as rail and bus issues continue to cause misery for many.

Created just two days ago, the 38 Degrees petition, created by Ellie MacLeod, as part of the Get Glasgow Moving campaign group, has garnered close to 3,000 signatures.

The petition describes how most people in Glasgow rely on public transport to get around and that “only 49% of households have cars.”

It adds: “Yet our public transport network is a total mess.”

READ MORE: ScotRail ‘one of the best train providers in Britain and among top in Europe’

The group added: “Investing in public transport is essential for expanding our city’s economy, addressing inequality and social isolation, reducing toxic levels of air pollution, and tackling climate change.

“Bickering between political parties is letting Glasgow down. We are decades behind other cities in providing affordable and sustainable transport.”

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Despite Glasgow being Scotland’s biggest city, it lags well behind London’s world-class public transport system which is under the control of the Government’s Transport for London (TfL) body.

The services under the control of TfL include London Underground, Buses, Docklands Light Railway, Overground, TfL Rail, Trams, and River Services.

READ MORE: Letters to the Editor: There are too few buses and First Glasgow is a shambles

Travel in London is made even smoother because of developments in technology and data.

TfL has provided Londoners with modern ways to pay through Oyster and contactless payment cards, as the body also works to provide information in different formats to help people move around London in a quick and efficient way.

In the past, the UK capital has even been recognised for having the best transportation system in the world.

Similar to this, the Glasgow petition is now calling for:

  • a publicly-owned bus company for the city
  • affordable, integrated ticketing with a city-wide smartcard
  • bike-hire stations across the city
  • a publicly-owned Transport Authority for Glasgow
  • a coordinated, long-term vision and investment in the city’s transport need

Just last month, ministers in Scotland signalled a further push for full control of Scotland’s railways, claiming “an honest conversation” was needed with the trains operator over the causes for massive and constant delays and disruption.

READ MORE: Bus passengers hit with 10% fares hike

Transport minister Humza Yousaf said he planned to discuss the limited powers of the recently created ScotRail Alliance and the reasons for much passenger unhappiness when the firm’s new chief takes the reins in June.

The news came as the SNP at both Holyrood and Westminster seek support for the full devolution of Network Rail, with all signalling and timetabling operated from Milton Keynes, reports our sister paper The Herald.

Get Glasgow Moving is set to hold a ‘Public Transport Hustings’ event on April 26 in the run up to Glasgow City Council elections.

The organisers said: “We want to grill some of our wannabe councillors on how they plan address our public transport mess.”

Visit getglasgowmoving.org for more information and to join the movement.