People in village 'cut off' by lack of buses demand action

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Angry residents of a West Lothian village who say they are cut off due to a lack of buses are calling on the council to step in and help.People in Fauldhouse say many can’t get to work and are isolated after McGill’s Buses scrapped Sunday and late night services.They also say the buses that do run are rarely reliable.Last month West Lothian Council stepped in to award contracts which would reinstate bus services within the areas of Greenrigg and Blackridge.Proposals were agreed proposals that will maintain services for Blackridge and Greenrigg.A tender process was also launched for Winchburgh but no commercial bus suppliercame forward to operate a service between Winchburgh and Livingston.But John Strang, who stays in Fauldhouse says this still leaves people in the village “abandoned”.He said: “We feel we’ve been forgotten about, this has been going for too long.“The buses are pathetic, you can’t get a Sunday service or a late night bus now.“Folk can’t get to work or to hospital appointments.“They said the cuts were made because not enough people used the buses, but they were so unreliable you never knew if one would turn up.”A West Lothian Council spokesperson said the recent changes made by McGill’s were in direct response to the ongoing challenges being experienced across Scotland’s commercial bus industry and is not an issue that is limited to West Lothian however it is recognised that this is a difficult situation for bus passengers.He continued: “The council’s strategy is to prioritise the limited funding that we do have for people that would otherwise have no travel choices.

Support was recently announced for subsidised services in Blackridge and Greenrigg. Without support, both areas would have been left entirely