A Broughty Ferry bus service is to be reduced because of low passenger demand, but a local councillor is calling on the operator to think again.
Stagecoach Strathtay’s No 75 from Ethiebeaton Park to Dundee, which serves communities at East Balgillo, central Broughty Ferry and West Ferry, is to stop running at weekends and will be cut to only an hourly timetable on week days during daytime.
Councillor Derek Scott has expressed concern about an impending change which is to take effect next Monday and especially for older people who live in West Ferry.
”The service operates from Ethiebeaton Park to Dundee and I believe that these changes will have an impact on the lives of those older people who reside along the Dundee Road leg of its route,” he said.
”Once again the residents of the Dundee Road area are going to see a diminution of their bus service.
”Not that many years ago Dundee Road was served by four buses every hour but now there will only be eight trips into town a day, no service into Dundee after 3pm and no service into Dundee at all on Saturday.
”There is a cluster of older people living in this area who don’t have access to private transport and will find it that bit more difficult to attend appointments, go shopping and socialise.”
A spokeswoman for Stagecoach Strathtay said: ”We have revised a number of our local routes and timetables from May 28 including the 75 service from Dundee to Ethiebeaton Park.
”Unfortunately, due to low passenger numbers on this route we are unable to sustain the current journey frequency and so from this date the Saturday timetable on this service will be withdrawn and the Monday to Friday timetable will be revised although it will still maintain a basic hourly service.
”We are constantly reviewing our network and will be monitoring usage and journey reliability closely.”