Bring Back the Buses

11/1/07

Margaret Smith MSP called for improvements to local bus services during a members debate in the Scottish Parliament on 10th January. Margaret has been campaigning for the restoration of the 13 bus off-peak service to Blackhall; the return of the 68 to Clermiston and Parkgrove and for a service to be provided for the residents of Gogarbank, who lost their only bus in July 2006. Margaret is the recently appointed vice-chair of the Fair Fares for the Ferry campaign group, who are lobbying for bus fares in South Queensferry to be brought into line with Edinburgh rates.

The debate was a welcome opportunity to draw the Scottish Executive's attention to the value of local bus services to residents in Edinburgh West. In her speech, Margaret said:

'... the residents of Queensferry and surrounding areas are currently paying the highest bus fares in Scotland. Fares have increased considerably in the past year, and a day ticket now costs £3.60 compared with the Lothian Buses price of £2.30 or the Scottish average of £2.85. There is no doubt that because FirstBus has a monopoly in parts of the Ferry-a position that Lothian Buses refuses to challenge because of the possibility of bus wars-the people of South Queensferry are being short changed. Despite my best efforts in discussing that with the council, it refuses to consider it from the point of view of quality bus partnerships or anything else...

”...I know that the Executive has been doing some work, but I hope that it will expand its work on demand responsive services, which might be particularly useful on the urban-rural fringes of cities such as Edinburgh in areas such as Ratho and Gogarbank. It is crucial that, as the minister confronts the business case for trams, he bears in mind the need to integrate good local bus services and the tram system-I include in that the shuttle bus to the Western general hospital.”

You can read the rest of Margaret's speech in the Official Report of the debate on the Scottish Parliament website.