StevenPaterson

“Over the past five years, several local bus services have either been cancelled or reduced, seriously impacting on the individuals and communities that have rely on them. The areas most affected are the rural wards of the Stirling area, making it even more difficult for people who do not drive to access services elsewhere.

Last year, myself and Bruce Crawford MSP sat down with First Bus bosses to discuss how this reduction in services was likely to affect the area we represent. It was clear that cuts made by the then-Tory/ Labour coalition running Stirling Council to funding support for bus services were the main cause of service cancellations. Funding from the council had helped private bus operators, such as First Bus, to run bus routes that were not commercially viable.

In some rural communities, the lack of access to main public transport routes is currently replaced by Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), although it remains the case that conventional bus routes are the most sustainable option.

I know that the new SNP-led Administration on Stirling Council intends to review bus subsidies as a matter of urgency to ensure the most inclusive bus network can be delivered for this area.

Earlier this year, the SNP Scottish Government announced a major overhaul of the bus industry in a move that would give local councils more powers over bus services; powers that were removed by the deregulation of bus services by Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government in the 1980s. The new Transport Bill will seek to protect non-commercially viable routes by offering them to bus companies as part of a franchise that includes more popular routes, allowing councils to plan strategically to ensure that rural communities can have bus services protected.”