An early morning bus route will be added to a returning Stagecoach service in Perthshire following a £33k council budget compromise.
The Courier revealed last month that Stagecoach’s number 16 service in the Carse of Gowrie will return in March in a campaign win for local residents.
The service had been axed in favour of the 39 route last year.
However, the replacement service became plagued with issues, resulting in numerous cancellations and delays.
Stagecoach agreed to bring back the 16 after a backlash but there were concerns over a lack of morning service.
It is now hoped a route will leave Errol 6.51am, St Madoes Green at 7.01am and ending at Perth Mill Street at 7.19am.
The council has set aside £13k for the service.
It became part of SNP administration budget at the suggestion of Carse of Gowrie Labour councillor Alasdair Bailey.
He said: “I was pleased to support the Independent group’s budget which included £13k of revenue funding to restore the early bus from Errol to Perth on weekday mornings.
“When Stagecoach said they were cancelling this under the cover of moving the daytime service to hourly, I was contacted by a number of people for whom this was a concern.
“I’d also like to thank the SNP for incorporating that money into their final budget.”
Publicly owned bus service
In a further boost for transport in the Carse of Gowrie, £20k was added to the budget for community bus initiatives.
Conservative Carse of Gowrie councillor Angus Forbes said: “A small group of us have been working on a publicly owned bus service across the Carse.
“I made a proposal that the council put some seed funding into getting this started and I am grateful that the council leader has agreed to incorporate this into their budget.”
Mr Bailey hopes the additional cash will help protect the region’s bus services for the future.
He said: “It will be great to tap into the energy of the community to figure out what Plan B looks like.
“Hopefully the money can also help exploration of restoring connectivity to some of the places missed out by Stagecoach in the new timetables including Glendoick.”
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