Under-fire bus company National Express has bowed to public pressure and announced that several routes across the city will be changing to “reflect customer comments and improve punctuality.”
Director Lawrence Davie has been under pressure since the firm made wholesale changes to its routes in the city in June.
Many of the changes most notably in Broughty Ferry and the west end have proved to be extremely unpopular with residents.
More than 2000 people across the city signed petitions complaining about the loss of their bus services and their campaign won support from councillors of all parties.
Mr Davie said they have closely monitored feedback and performance of routes and further changes are being made on services 3, 5a/b, 6, 11/12, 25/26, 22, 14, 32/33 and 17 to address concerns about reliability.
Leaflets advising of the November 7 changes have been distributed to households across the city.
Mr Davie said, “We realise there were some issues with the reliability of bus services following the changes in June. We have met with residents across the city to understand the problems and have closely monitored every route.
“Five city centre services will change from November 7 to improve the service we offer. We will continue to monitor these routes throughout the winter and listen to passengers’ feedback.”
However, Ferry ward councillor Rod Wallace said he did not accept that the company had taken on board the views of the public in the area he represents.
He acknowledged that Mr Davie had attended a number of meetings about the service changes in Broughty Ferry, but said the new announcements did not indicate that he had listened to the concerns.
“For instance, regarding the 5a/5b service, after November 7 there will be no buses going into central Broughty Ferry,” he said. “That is ignoring the wishes of local people and local businesses.”
He said the fact that buses would not cross the railway line was going to cause significant problems for people in Balgillo and Barnhill, especially elderly people, who use the service to access local facilities.
Mr Wallace said he was not impressed with the changes that have been announced and would be holding Mr Davie to his pledge to monitor and listen to the public on the issue.
Timetables for the new routes are available from the website nationalexpress.com/dundee and at the Travelshop in Commercial Street.
National Express has sent a service guide leaflet to more than 70,000 households across the city.