THE introduction of park and ride charges at Ferrytoll and Halbeath have been likened to the return of the”hated” Forth Road Bridge tolls.

Mid Scotland and Fife Green MSP Mark Ruskell has written to Transport Minister Humza Yousaf asking him to intervene and stop Fife Council’s plans.

He said: “The reopening of the Forth Road Bridge as a public transport corridor back in January was a really important day for Fife, where we finally recognised the value in having a quick, affordable and clean way for people to get across to Edinburgh each day.

“It’s really frustrating then that just a few weeks later, Fife Council announced these plans to essentially reintroduce the hated bridge tolls for people travelling by bus across the Forth.

“Fife Council have said that setting the parking charge low at only £1 a day won’t have much of an impact on commuters but once fees have been introduced there is nothing to stop these going up year on year, adding to our already expensive public transport costs in Scotland.”

Councillors yesterday (Wednesday) approved traffic regulation orders which will pave the way for £1 a day charges to be introduced at Ferrytoll and Halbeath.

Members of the South and West Fife area committee backed the measures for Ferrytoll in the morning while the Cowdenbeath area committee passed the Halbeath plans later in the afternoon.

At Fife Council’s budget meeting in February, it was decided that £1 daily parking charges would be brought in to help cover future running costs.

Promoting the traffic order for each facility is likely to cost approximately £2,000 while ticket machines, signs and other infrastructure will cost around £85,000 at Ferrytoll and £60,000 at Halbeath.

Councillors were told that the fees would raise funds in the region of £190,000 a year at Ferrytoll and £130,000 at Halbeath.

Mr Ruskell wants the Scottish Government to find other ways of covering the operating costs and said: “Park and Rides are part of Scottish Government policy to help ease the pressure on city roads and reduce carbon emissions from public transport so they need to take the lead and find a solution soon to make sure that commuters aren’t hit with these unfair parking charges.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “The Scottish Government provides financial support for the development of new park and ride facilities. On-going maintenance costs are a matter for the local authority who have responsibility for each of the park and ride sites within their respective areas.

“Significant investment has been made through the Forth Replacement Crossing project to provide greater reliability for buses.

“This has been further strengthened by the introduction of the Public Transport Corridor.

“The recent commitment made through the Edinburgh and East of Scotland City Region Deal includes a further £20 million to improve public transport infrastructure to support the development proposals at the West of Edinburgh.”

The spokesperson added: “There are a number of parties involved in the working group and its success is incumbent on all parties contributing.”