A Perthshire man has slammed the bus service in his area as ”lousy” and called for an urgent review.
Andrew Brock from Gilmerton contacted The Courier to highlight his concerns about the No 15 service in west Strathearn, accusing Stagecoach and Perth and Kinross Council of ”blatant discrimination” against passengers.
”The situation for fare-paying commuters and others who depend on this service has gone from ludicrous to disgraceful and it is now time the whole timetable and pricing of this route was independently reviewed,” Mr Brock said.
”Crieff is singularly and continually offered a quality of service that is just not acceptable for the travelling public.
”Why does the council and Stagecoach deem it necessary to send six empty double-deckers west from Scott Street, Perth, to Crieff every weekday morning at 5.20am, 6am, 6.05am, 6.52am, 7.25am and 7.50am when, at the same time, everyone from St Fillans, Comrie, Crieff, Gilmerton and Methven only have two buses of choice heading to Perth before 9am?
”The 7.35am from Crieff to Perth is the only suitably-timed bus to allow everyone from Strathearn the opportunity to travel to Perth to arrive on time for work, college or school and, as a result, the bus is dangerously over-loaded daily….”
He added: ”Also, in the evening from Crieff to Perth, there are five separate services in less than two hours, between 6pm and 8pm, while there is only one bus between 5.45pm and 9pm, before a final two-hour gap and the last service west at 11pm from Perth to Crieff. I wonder just how many individuals have turned down jobs, lost jobs or had to amend their shifts in order to adhere to this lousy service.”
Sarah Longair, operations director, Stagecoach East Scotland, said: ”Our service 15 is operated partially commercially, with some evening and school journeys operated under contract to Perth and Kinross Council.
”Our frequency of our rural services is very much based on demand and the resources we can devote to these areas has to be matched by the number of people requiring travel at these times.
”Frequencies are higher within Perth city due to the consistent passenger use and overall demand within certain areas of the city. During peak and school times, it is often the case that more journeys are required and the early-morning journeys out of Perth towards Crieff are to cater for school services in the morning.
”The reports of over-crowding on the 7.35am journey are concerning and our local operations manager has now been tasked with analysis of recent passenger loadings as well as continued ”on the road” journey monitoring in an effort to alleviate any problem.”
Ms Longair said they had received no formal complaints of this nature from Mr Brock or any other passenger.
Perth and Kinross Council stated: ”The council has a robust process for logging comments about bus services. The concerns raised here are not representative of the general feedback we receive about bus services in the Crieff area.”