By Charlene Wilson

MANY FIFE motorists are ditching their wheels in favour of more economic forms of transport, it has emerged.

The Courier contacted train and bus companies, First ScotRail and Stagecoach Fife to determine whether escalating fuel prices had led to an increase in passenger numbers and both companies admitted they had witnessed recent rises.

Annual passenger journeys on the Fife Circle route amount to around three million a year and First Scotrail said there had been a notable upturn in the number of people using trains in the region recently.

However, the company would not say whether they felt this could be due to the soaring cost of fuel

But a spokesman said, “If people are worried about their petrol costs or about running out of fuel, First ScotRail can help as we offer a wide range of good value tickets.”

Stagecoach also reported a significant increase in the number of passengers using buses in Fife and surrounding areas, with 37.6 million passenger journeys made on Stagecoach east Scotland services within the last year—an increase of 2.7% compared to the previous year.

Again the company would not say whether they felt this was due to fuel prices.

Instead, operations director for Stagecoach East Scotland, Steve Walker, said, “Our passenger numbers in Fife continue to grow year on year and this can be attributed to a number of factors including network improvements, vehicle investment, environmental awareness and innovative marketing.”

Meanwhile the Scottish Motor Trade Association said although there had not been any major decrease in petrol sales recently, there had been a “minor but noticeable” decline in car sales across the country.

A total of 13,861 new cars were driven off garage forecourts during May, down from 14,938 a year ago, according to the SMTA.

The association’s chief executive, Douglas Roberts, said, “In the last three weeks particularly sales of both new and used cars have been down.

“While these figures are disappointing they are not surprising due to the current economic climate.”

“There are a variety of factors such as new rates of road tax, fuel prices and people not changing their cars as often as they used to.

“I think we will continue to see a continued slowdown of car sales in the coming months.”

Meanwhile the AA said a recent survey confirmed that car users are becoming more cost conscious.

“We asked 18,000 members whether they were looking to cut back on their levels of car use and two thirds said yes,” a spokesman said.