Savage bus cuts will leave the Carse of Gowrie cut off and isolated amid warnings there is no “bag of cash” from the council to plug Stagecoach services.
Concerned residents packed out Errol Village Hall on Monday evening to voice their concerns about the proposed removal of all the company’s commercial buses through the area from the end of April.
And The Courier understands that an urgent motion will be put forward at a full Perth and Kinross Council meeting tomorrow to recognise and address the impact such cuts would have on rural communities.
David Farrell, chairman of Errol Village Hall, attended the public meeting on Monday.
“The problem is that it isolates the community,” he told The Courier.
“Kids can’t go out and go into town and go to the cinema.
“Elderly people can’t go and get their shopping if they’re not computer literate.”
What are the proposed changes?
The proposals, which are currently out for public consultation until March 10, would see the axing of the 16 and the X7 services between Perth and Dundee which currently serve the villages throughout the Carse of Gowrie.
They also connect Ninewells Hospital and Perth Royal Infirmary.
Stagecoach has also proposed changing the 39 route which means it would also no longer serve the area.
The only timetabled routes to remain would be the evening and Sunday services which are subsidised by Perth and Kinross Council.
‘No longer a bag of cash’
Alasdair Bailey, Labour councillor for the Carse of Gowrie, called the plans “devastating” but said private operators cannot continue to rely on council funding.
“They (the community) realise that the council no longer has a bag of cash that it can hand to operators to plug gaps in services this big,” he said.
“People are messaging me and stopping me in the street and asking where the council would get the money from to do such a thing anyway.
“The answer today is solely by raising the tax locally and that’s something I’m loathe to support whilst private operators are still able to take the profit from the busy routes and leave rural folk in the lurch.”
Compromise on subsidised routes
The councillor told The Courier that if compromises have to be made then he would be in favour of the subsidised funds already in place being used to keep daytime services running.
“Although there is no big bag of money, there is currently a subsidy flowing to Stagecoach to operate Sunday and post-8pm services on the Carse route,” he said.
“My hope is that a compromise position can be found in those talks that will result in some form of hourly service operating through the Carse with a focus on the weekday morning and evening peaks.
“With such limited resources, we have to put the needs of those wishing to use the bus to access work, further and higher education, and healthcare top of our priority list.”
Threat to quality of life
Monday’s meeting in Errol is one of three being hosted by Perthshire North SNP MSP John Swinney in the Carse of Gowrie.
The former Deputy First Minister believes the proposals would do “real damage” to the the area if they were brought to fruition.
He said: “The massive turnout at my public meeting on the Stagecoach bus service proposals, which exceeded the capacity of Errol Village Hall, is testament to the strength of feeling and concern about the implications for people in the Carse of Gowrie.
“The many issues raised demonstrate the gravity of the threat faced to quality of life in of people who live in the Carse of Gowrie.
“I have encouraged people to make their views known directly to Stagecoach and I will be submitting to Stagecoach, a comprehensive outline of the concerns I have heard from constituents.”
Mr Swinney and SNP MP Pete Wishart will host two further public meetings on Thursday.
The first is in St Madoes from 6pm to 7pm in the Madoch Centre and the second will be in Invergowrie from 7.30pm to 8.30pm in the Bullionfield Hall.
Stagecoach response
Douglas Robertson, managing director at Stagecoach East Scotland, said the proposals were to improve the “longer term sustainability” of the bus network.
He said: “We appreciate these proposals will cause inconvenience or involve change for some people and any decisions will not be taken lightly.
“The views of local people who use the Stagecoach bus network are very important to us, and that’s why we’re keen to hear from our customers during this consultation period.”
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