Shortly before the local council elections the then council leader Paul McLennan confirmed to a packed village hall that Lothian buses would be taking over the Pencaitland/Ormiston route when First withdraws its service in early June.
One of our eagle-eyed residents spotted Lothian buses carrying out a dry run to the terminus at the end of the village. Unfortunately, at this time we still have no details on the frequency of service Lothian buses is planning on the route.
Don’t forget that Pencaitland has joined forces with Humbie, East & West Saltoun and Bolton, Gifford and Ormiston Community Councils to find out what local people really want from their local bus services. You can register your views online by clicking here.
With Lothian Buses due to take over the Pencaitland (via Ormiston) route from First in June, you may be interested to know that it is holding a bus users’ surgery at Fort Kinnaird on the 24th of May, between 10am and 3pm.
If you are a bus user here’s your chance to talk directly to the company and tell them your concerns or seek information about what’s planned for routes in East Lothian.
For many bus users the timing of the announcement of First Bus withdrawal of services could not have come at a worse moment. With council elections imminent it meant that there was no clear idea of who would be in charge of the transport portfolio after the elections.
Thankfully this has now been resolved with the selection of councillor Michael Veitch (CON) as spokesperson for Transport and Roads in East Lothian.
Don’t forget that Pencaitland has joined forces with Humbie, East & West Saltoun and Bolton, Gifford and Ormiston Community Councils to find out what local people really want from their local bus services. You can register your views online by clicking here.
The survey results will be presented to East Lothian Council and its new Transport spokesperson, as well as the service providers, to help build a more efficient and effective bus network for local residents.
Following the success of the recent meeting to discuss bus service provision in the area, we have joined forces with Humbie, East & West Saltoun and Bolton, Gifford and Ormiston Community Councils to find out what local people really want from their bus service.
A copy of the survey will be dropping through your letter box within the next week or so but if you prefer to register your response online, the survey can be found by clicking here.
The survey results will ultimately be presented to East Lothian Council and the service providers to help build a more efficient and effective service for local residents.
The public meeting to allow bus users of rural East Lothian to voice their concerns to Council leaders filled Trevelyan Hall to capacity, with many standing at the entrance to listen in.
In attendance were Council leader Paul McLennan (SNP), Councillor Donald Grant (Labour) and both the MSP Iain Gray and MP Fiona O’Donnell. There were also a number of other sitting and prospective councillors hoping to be elected and re-elected in a few days time.
Whilst there was some inevitable party political banter Ormiston community council leader Jim Blane kept a lid on proceedings, focussing on permitting members of the public to air their concerns.
Some of the key points to emerge were:
Lothian buses is to take over the moment First withdraws its services to Ormiston & Pencaitland
Fares will follow the model already applied by Lothian across the whole of its existing network. This should mean they are below First’s fares.
Paul McLennan indicated a willingness to see more active involvement from actual bus users, Rural East Lothian Bus Users (RELBUS) and Community Councils on ELC’s decision-making on buses.
Less clear was the fate of other uncommercial services such as the Gifford Circle (now the 123) and services for Elphinstone, Glenkinchie and New Winton. In the latter case Councillor Jim Gillies claimed he had received concerns from 23 residents when their bus service stopped around a year ago, and still have no means of getting to other parts of the county.
Many expressed relief that a rural transport crisis has been avoided and welcomed the news that Lothian will take up when First withdraws. However, just as many expressed doubts about whether wider issues surrounding non-commercial connections to and between rural parts of East Lothian, would be pursued or dropped once a new Council is elected.
Q. Would you like to join in and be consulted on ELC decisions affecting rural bus service provision?
Both the East Lothian Courier and East Lothian News gave space over in this week’s papers to reporting on the up-coming public meeting being held in Trevelyan Hall next Tuesday.
Check out our original story on the public meeting here.
If you would like to attend but can’t make it, do leave a comment here and we will pass these on to the administration at East Lothian Council as well as our local MP and MSP.
Ormiston and Pencaitland Community Councils are joining forces to hold a public meeting on Tuesday the 1st of May in Pencaitland’s Trevelyan Hall, two days before Council elections, inviting sitting and prospective councillors to come and listen to local residents of rural East Lothian.
The joint meeting will take place on 1st May at 7.30pm in Trevelyan Hall, Pencaitland.
The Community Councils are inviting both sitting and prospective candidates of the Council elections to attend and hear the effects first hand from members of the affected communities.
As Jim Blane, Chair of Ormiston Community Council explains, “We believe that it’s absolutely vital that all our political representatives have a clear understanding of what the removal of bus services would mean to real people of rural East Lothian. We’ve heard lots of welcome noises about what various politicians will do about this situation but our rural communities need to be assured that this is top of the priority list and that there is no-one left stranded without transport and unable to live their normal life when the First Bus service ceases.”
Pencaitland Chair Ralph Averbuch added, “Right now we’re all getting flyers through our doors telling us what each political party might do and criticising the failings of their opponents. What we need to see is joined up thinking where all political factions set aside their narrow party agendas and work together to ensure we have both a short-term solution when First services cease, and a long-term strategy which won’t begin to unravel in the space of one council term. We need imaginative but pragmatic thinking that delivers a lasting and viable bus service to rural East Lothian.”
As well as inviting members of their own communities Pencaitland and Ormiston Community Councils are also encouraging residents of other parts of rural East Lothian who will be affected by the bus service’s removal to attend the event.
With recent news about the unwelcome closure of vital bus routes to Pencaitland and Ormiston this June, you may be interested to know that there are still ways to get from A to B thanks to car pooling.
Tripshare allows you to car pool with others whilst reducing costs, road traffic and pollution at the same time. Click to find out more.Car pooling is the act of sharing a private car to get to a mutually agreed destination at a prearranged time. In a local context that might be car-sharing from Pencaitland to Tranent or Wallyford in the morning in order to catch public transport into town… and back again at the end of the workday. Alternatively it might be a commute directly to the city.
The advantages of this approach are pretty clear. A car with four seats fully utilised will spread the fuel costs amongst four people. It also means just one round trip compared to four separate cars on the roads, each with just one commuter.
It’s not only a more economical and social practice, it’s also much more environmentally aware, reducing unnecessary road trips and pollution.
You don’t have to own a car to participate. If you do have your own transport then you can arrange to take turns driving, thus using your car perhaps 75% less than before. This reduces wear and tear and, of course, fuel costs.
Interested? Then find out more about East Lothian’s very own TripShareEastLothian service.
As the website explains, “Tripshare has been created so that you may actively search for other members who are doing similar journeys at similar times. Tripshare has the capability of matching all types of journeys. This scheme will not only allow members to share car journeys if you wish, but also to choose to share taxi journeys, and to choose to cycle and walk together.”
The website costs nothing to use and forms part of the UK’s National liftshare network. It is restricted to people aged 18 and over.
PS – Do you already car-pool from Pencaitland or other villages in and around the area? Please tell us about it below and whether it’s been a success for you?
RELBUS, short for Rural East Lothian Bus Users, is calling upon members to make personal representations to their elected representatives.
As a recent articles on the RELBUS website explains, “In the light of recent announcements we thought it would be a good idea to set out some of the steps we can all take to ensure the politicians and operators respond appropriately. We are encouraging all RELBUS members to make personal representations to elected members, your local councillors and community councillors. Get support from your MSP to urge Government to step in and support the transition to a new provider, but also to look again at the regulations.”
The views of bus users are central to constructing a better service, so ask them how they propose to take bus users views into account.
It is inevitable that urgency pushes decision makers to replicate the existing setup – perhaps like for like or close to it. However the status quo is inadequate. It can only be a starting point not the end point.
There need to be better connections with rail services. One study in Dunbar showed that no passengers used the bus to get to the train station.
There need to be better connections between communities and services to ‘destinations’.
We need better quality and more reliable commuter services. These are clearly very important, but too often oversubscribed at peak times and over-provided when they demand is lower.
Improve the bus fleet. Smaller buses are better suited to small rural towns and connecting services. Greener buses are going to be less noisy and less polluting.
A not for profit company should be set up to run the services. The company should seek to provide a comprehensive public service.
Profits should be used to help keep the fleet clean and green, lower fares and rationalise them, devote sufficient resources to marketing and publicity and aim to increase patronage of the buses by residents, business, visitors and tourists.
The East Lothian Courier newspaper is seeking the views of people in villages across the county who will be directly affected by the cuts planned by First bus this June.
Kirsty Gibbins, the paper’s Editor, wrote on it’s Facebook page, “We’d like to hear comments and views from people in East Lothian affected by the significant cuts to First bus services across the county from June 10. We will be running a selection of quotes from the public in the paper so please send your reaction/letters to kgibbins@eastlothiancourier.com with your name, age and home town/village attached.”
