Regulars at the Dunfermline branch of the Royal British Legion (Scotland) feel Stagecoach has all but “forgotten” about members.
Alan Tyson, the president of the social club, said, “It seems Stagecoach gets to rule the roost. I feel we’ve been forgotten about, in a sense.”
And steward Janice Gray fears that the club may fold if it continues to lose customers who can’t get out and about because of changes to local services.
On Thursday The Courier revealed the condemnation of Stagecoach’s removal of the number 19 Rosyth-to-Ballingry service from the James Street and New Row area of Dunfermline.
A spokesperson for Stagecoach in Fife said the decision to re-route the service, via Dunfermline bus station and St Margaret’s Drive, was made to improve its reliability as it was being affected by traffic in James Street.
But the company said that following further comments received it had agreed, from March 21, to alter the D5/D6 service to serve Nethertown Broad Street and New Row, providing a low floor accessible bus every 20 minutes.
The 76 runs hourly up and down the New Row and also serving Moodie Street and James Street and the D3 runs every 20 minutes but downhill only from James Street via New Row, Moodie Street and Nethertown Broad Street.
Mr Tyson said, “It should stop going down the drive and bring the New Row into action again. It is supposed to be a town service, after all.”
Mr Tyson is able to get another service from Abbeyview and walks down the hilly New Row to the legion, but has to get a taxi home a huge drain on his pension.
And he is not alone, for others, rather than face changing buses or who are leaving the legion too late, are relying on taxis for a safe journey home.
“I can walk down, but there is no way I could walk back up to the bus station, because I can’t walk very far.
“This is a meeting place for so many, not just for us but for many charities who use the hall. If this place were to close I don’t know what we would do.”
Janice said she had noticed a big difference when the service changed and takings had fallen dramatically.
She started staging big shows to generate funds but losing the 19 service which stopped virtually outside the door had seen many things “die a death.”‘Soul destroying'”We could normally reckon on getting 80-100 but at the last one we had 30 people here. It’s soul destroying.”
She added that there were many complaints about the service, and for many it was a journey too far.
“Everybody is friendly, they come in and enjoy themselves, but now some are having to pay £5 for a taxi and on a pension that isn’t cheap.
“A lot of our folk are on their own, and we are like a wee family here, it’s a lifeline for many of them.
“We are needed, but we also need the people to come here we need our members back.
“Stagecoach is a public service and the public should be able to use it, that’s the bottom line.
“If we do not get the buses back, we might not be here.
“When it was snowing and we had to close for eight to 10 days we had people saying thank goodness we’d re-opened as they were bored and had nowhere to go it’s for them and we have got to keep this place going.”
Regular Angie Hall said, “Dunfermline is not exactly the place with lots of places to go for a certain age. For our age group and older ones, this is the only place to come for a nice evening out.
“Without the bus stops, a lot of people will never come here and that means they won’t get out at all.’Heartbreaking'”They could come on their own, have an evening out and get a bus. They can’t afford taxis.
“It is heartbreaking.”
Two members from Rosyth Ken Stone and Matt Feaks often share a taxi home to keep down the cost, but point out that it is not always feasible.
They used to be able to use the 19 but now have to get a 19 to the Asda St Leonards stop, then onto another service, which more than doubles their travelling time.
“And it’s not just us coming here, I know loads of people used it for the library and along Canmore Street and then walked back so they didn’t have to walk up the hills in Dunfermline,” Ken said.
“And don’t forget we have members from Ballingry, Lochgelly, Rosyth and Cowdenbeath who all used the 19 so it’s not just Dunfermline itself that’s been hit,” he added.
“I’ve been in Rosyth 40 odd years and the bus has gone up and down the New Row only suddenly it isn’t.
“Why can’t we have a compromise and have every second 19 one up and down here?”
Sarah Longair, operations director at Stagecoach in Fife, said, “As a response to further passenger comments regarding the changes to service 19, we announced that we will also be revising the D5/D6 service to continue to serve Nethertown Broad Street/New Row in both directions up to every 20 mins and will also offer further connection possibilities for others along the line of the route.
“We are committed to ensuring we offer reliable services and have been monitoring route 19 for some time.
“We feel that the re-routing of the 19 will resolve previous problems identified with the service, which on occasion could cause delays along the whole route.
“Unfortunately, we are unable to bring the revision of the D5/D6 any closer due to local bus service registration legislation. However, we will continue to monitor the routes in question to look at any further possibilities based on passenger numbers and reliability statistics.”