Angry Glenrothes residents have blamed Stagecoach for low passenger numbers on two under threat bus services.
The company announced last week it plans to withdraw the service 30, Glenrothes bus station to Woodside, due to low usage and ongoing access issues along the route.
And service 40, Glenrothes bus station to Asda, will also stop because of low demand.
The cuts are part of a major shake-up of Stagecoach services in Fife, which come into effect on August 19.
However, several people have contacted The Courier claiming the Glenrothes services are unreliable and buses often don’t turn up.
And this is the only reason people are giving up on them.
John Cowx said: “If passengers could guarantee the buses would actually turn up, they would definitely use them.”
People rely on Glenrothes bus for GP appointments
Mr Cowx says the removal of the Woodside bus cuts access to GP surgeries for dozens of people.
“I have elderly family members in Woodside and this is the service they used regularly,” he said.
“On many occasions the bus didn’t turn up at the time it says on the timetable and sometimes it didn’t turn up at all.
“When it did arrive it was often a double decker, which is too big to get down a particular road in Woodside.
“A lot of older people relied on the bus to get them to doctors’ appointments and onward journeys to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
“Stagecoach say it’s hardly used but if the bus doesn’t turn up, what do they expect?”
Bus is late ’80 per cent of the time’
Meanwhile, Glenrothes man Oliver O’Connor confirmed a similar situation with the 40.
“We used it to go to Asda but it hardly ever showed up,” he said.
“It hasn’t been running properly for two years and it’s absolutely atrocious.
“We eventually stopped using it and now travel from Glenrothes to Kirkcaldy Asda as the service is more reliable.
“However, it also doesn’t show on occasion and 80% of the time it is late.”
Similar moves to cut bus services in Perthshire last year proved so unpopular they sparked a Courier campaign.
And Stagecoach backtracked on several services as a result of the pressure.
Stagecoach ‘will review all feedback’
Stagecoach says its proposed service changes are “primarily improvements to the local area”.
They include a new city network in Dunfermline to serve the new learning campus and new bus links from Perth to St Andrews.
However a spokesperson adds: “To improve the longer term sustainability of the bus network across Fife, we’re also looking to revise some lesser-used routes in August.
“We appreciate these proposals may cause inconvenience or involve change for some people.”
Stagecoach says the views of people who use its services are very important.
“That’s why we’re keen to hear from our customers during this consultation period,” they said.
“We will review all feedback received and look at any amendments to the proposal before we finalise timetables.”
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