Controversial proposed changes to bus services in Perth have been “ill thought out” and are “a recipe for disaster”, a councillor has claimed.
Willie Wilson had been critical of Stagecoach for only allowing a week for public consultations over the popular number 7 route and Broxden park and ride and now has written to them outlining his thoughts on the proposals.
Starting off with a positive – he welcomed an increase in frequency of services – Mr Wilson then went on the attack.
“The proposed merger of the 301 and the No 7 is a recipe for difficulty and disaster and there are several reasons for this,” he said.
“The journey times for park and ride passengers will virtually double due to the large number of stops in the Glasgow Road. This will increase, of course, with the new housing developments taking place at Bellway and the existing one at Persimmon.
“I regret that the link with the railway station/bus station is broken with the proposed service.
“Journey times for passengers going to and from Burghmuir, Oakbank and Hillend will be greatly extended. I have done some basic calculations on this and what currently is a 10 to 12 minute journey time from Oakbank to South Street is likely to become a journey of at least 20 to 25 minutes.
“There will be serious congestion at the bell mouth entrance to the park and ride facility as it is not wide enough to take a car and a bus never mind two buses.
“I think that some services will be severely overcrowded as substantial numbers of passengers will already be on the bus when it returns to the park and ride service on its journey to town.”
He said he had also received a “substantial number of complaints” from constituents in the Oakbank Road, Cleve, Oakbank Crescent and Cherrybank Grove area.
“To replace a 12 to 15 minute service during the day with an hourly bus in one direction is unacceptable,” he said.
Douglas Robertson, commercial director, Stagecoach East Scotland said: “We’ve had a great response to our consultation on potential changes to the Perth network of services and we’re now busy analysing all the comments received, from customers, staff and from local councillors.
“We’ve arranged further meetings with Perth and Kinross Council transport officers to consider some revisions to our proposals and we’re working together to provide the best possible bus network for passengers.”
