Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Buses using Queensferry Crossing rather than Forth Road Bridge’s public transport corridor branded ‘crazy’

The Forth Road Bridge
The Forth Road Bridge

Passengers and politicians have slammed a bus operator using the Queensferry Crossing, instead of the dedicated public transport corridor along the Forth Road Bridge.

Kinross-shire Citylink passenger Robert Galbraith raised the issue after travelling on a bus caught up in rush hour traffic on the flagship £1.35 billion crossing on April 16.

“Recently, and not for the first time in my experience, on a Citylink bus from Edinburgh travelling north the driver chose to take the Queensferry Crossing during peak hour traffic instead of the Forth Road Bridge.

“This involved us all in considerable delay.”

Mr Galbraith said when he questioned drivers at Halbeath they told him: “Citylink were under instructions from Transport Scotland not to use the Forth Road Bridge.”

However, a spokesman for the government transport agency said: “We are not aware of any advice being provided by ourselves to bus operators asking them to avoid the Forth Road Bridge, except during severe high winds when the public transport corridor cannot be used, or when restrictions are applied.

“To our knowledge Citylink continue to use the bridge successfully.”

However, a spokeswoman for Scottish Citylink confirmed some buses are bypassing the public transport corridor.

“The majority of our services are scheduled to use the Forth Road Bridge, particularly during peak times.

“However there are times, during off-peak periods, when it can be quicker for a particular service to use the Queensferry Crossing so that route will be taken in those cases.”

She said the firm would look into why the 55-year-old bridge wasn’t used on this occasion.

Mr Galbraith said it seemed bizarre for Citylink not to use the bridge when the whole purpose of a public transport corridor was to aid speedy bus travel.

Local Liberal Democrat councillor William Robertson said: “Even with the new bridge there are still big tailbacks of traffic at peak times so it seems crazy to me they should be adding to the congestion by routing buses through there.”

The Scottish party leader added: “It’s astonishing that Citylink have opted to use the often congested Queensferry Crossing instead of the dedicated bus route over the old Forth Road Bridge.

“Citylink bosses need to wake up and change the route.”

The decision to make the Forth Road Bridge into a public transport corridor was made as part of the Forth Replacement Crossing Act 2011.

Since it opened, Transport Scotland said it had been successful in giving passengers quicker, more reliable journeys, particularly at peak times.

“Monitoring has shown the corridor is delivering significant journey time savings for bus users of around 40% compared to car journeys.

“This will hopefully encourage more people to use public transport where possible,” its spokesman added.