Extract from Scottish Parliament debate on Bus Services - Mar 28
Thursday, 29 March 2018 07:55
Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab): ...We have also heard a couple of
passing references to a good example of how things can be better.
John Finnie started that when he talked about buses in my
constituency of East Lothian, and he is absolutely right. Until
relatively recently, we were one of the worst examples of how bus
services in 21st century Scotland can fail communities. Services
were provided largely by FirstBus. It was a poor service. It was
unreliable and provided by very old buses that...Request free trial
(East Lothian)
(Lab): ...We have also heard a couple of
passing references to a good example of how things can be better.
John Finnie started that when he talked about buses in my
constituency of East Lothian, and he is absolutely right. Until
relatively recently, we were one of the worst examples of how bus
services in 21st century Scotland can fail communities. Services
were provided largely by FirstBus. It was a poor service. It was
unreliable and provided by very old buses that were
uncomfortable—indeed it was not unusual for them to catch fire en
route. As a result, with every week that passed, fewer passengers
would use those buses. That is the answer to Mr Mason’s question of
whether it was a chicken or an egg. It was a downward spiral—poor
buses, fewer passengers and less investment by the company, which
then began to close down routes that were not making any money and
cherry pick the routes where it thought that it could still make
money. Eventually, the operator gave up altogether and walked
away...
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