Kinlochleven bus changes agreed

An agreement has been reached this week to amend the Kinlochleven to Fort William bus timetable following a backlash over the ‘negative impact’ of the service, writes Neill Bo Finlayson.

The current timetable, introduced earlier this year after Shiel Buses were awarded the contract, removed the last bus leaving Fort William to Kinlochleven and changed the second last bus to the earlier time of 8pm. These changes left some bus users in the Kinlochleven area with no choice but to consider quitting their jobs as they could not fulfill evening shifts.

Now, following a meeting on Monday with council officials, Shiel Buses has agreed to amend the N44 Kinlochleven service so that the last bus leaving from Fort William will return to the previous time of 8.40pm.

The bus operator has also agreed to address the 10-minute delay of buses leaving from Kinlochleven in the morning due to the school runs to BunSgoil Ghàidhlig Loch Abar, the Gaelic School in Caol.

It is expected that these amendments will be rolled out around the end of November.

Fort William and Ardnamurchan councillor Niall MacLean was pleased to see the 8.40pm service reinstated but felt the changes did not go far enough.

He said: ‘Unfortunately this is too little too late for those who have already been negatively impacted by the timetable changes and I realise still leaves some issues unresolved. All of which could have been avoided with community consultation by the Highland Council administration.’

Mr MacLean previously condemned the original changes made by Highland Council, labelling them as ‘unacceptable’ and claiming they would ‘add to economic hardship in the area’.

The SNP councillor also criticised the ‘abysmal’ level of consultation by the council and said some bus users he spoke to found out through a post on the bus operator’s social media platform.

The Lochaber Times tried to contact Highland Council and Shiel Buses but both were unavailable for comment.