According to the acclaimed American writer Mark Twain, there are three types of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. It is a phrase which describes the persuasive power of statistics to bolster weak arguments, which Twain was not a fan of. He attributed the quote to former British PM Benjamin Disraeli but there is no record of him ever actually saying it, so credit must be given to Twain himself.
More than 100 years on, Twain’s frustration with statistics he couldn’t understand is still felt by many, particularly when they come out of the mouths of politicians. Read More: Everybody loves going green - until it lands in their fridge This is particularly true when it comes to the frustration of beleaguered travellers on Scotland’s nationalised rail network of late. When I say of late, I actually mean all the time.
This week peak fares were re-introduced onto the network as passenger numbers had not increased significantly enough to justify the £40million cost of scrapping them. Transport secretary Fiona Hyslop said there had been an increase in passenger levels of about 6.8% during the 12-months the trial was in place.
However, she added it was not close enough to the 10% passenger uptick needed to meet the £40m needed for the scheme to be self-funding. This seems a fair enough reason and easy to justify you would think. Read More: Tesco Clubcard scheme is like having Jason Leitch do your shopping However, the pilot scheme has been in operation while ScotRail were fo.
