Commuters in Renfrewshire have faced disruption due to the cancellation of almost 180 bus services this week.
McGill’s buses have a whole raft of cancellations announced on a newly-introduced short notice journey cancellation page on their website.
Today, there are 86 cancellations listed, and yesterday saw 13. The day before that there were 80.
McGill’s have cited a driver shortage as the reason being behind the cancellations.
The bus routes affected today are the 7 from Linwood to Paisley town centre, the 23, from Erskine to Glasgow, the 26 from Braehead/Erskine North Barr to Glasgow, the 38 from Johnstone to Glasgow, the 38A from Spateston to Glasgow, and the 66 from Dykebar Hospital to Paisley town centre.
Yesterday it was the 38 from Johnstone to Glasgow, the 51 from Barrhead to Paisley and the 66 from Dykebar Hospital to Paisley town centre.
And on Monday, there were even more routes impacted, including cancellations on the 7 from Linwood to Paisley town centre, the 23, X23, and 23D from Erskine to Glasgow, the 38 from Johnstone to Glasgow, the 38A from Spateston to Glasgow, the 51 from Barrhead to Paisley, the 54 from Neilston to Paisley, and the 66 from Dykebar Hospital to Paisley town centre.
There will still be some buses running on the above mentioned routes but the original timetable has been much-reduced by cancellations.
A full list of the services that have been cancelled is available at www.mcgillsbuses.co.uk/journey-cancellations
A spokesperson for the bus company said: "We apologise for cancellations affecting a small percentage of our services presently. As with other sectors across the country, we are currently experiencing a driver shortage which is being exacerbated by a number of short notice problems.
"To keep customers informed with as much notice as possible, we have set up a journey cancellation page on our website and would ask passengers to check this notice, the alerts page, the McGill's app and on social media.
"More than 95 per cent of our services are operating as normal but those that do not may cause significant disruption and we apologise for that.
“We would also ask customers to bear in mind that the staff driving the buses that operate have not caused this issue and in many cases, are working overtime to minimise the problem so please be kind to them."
West Scotland Labour MSP Paul O'Kane fears that the shortage of drivers and reduced service will become the norm for passengers, with the very creation of a dedicated page listing the cancellations indicative of future developments.
He said: “That a journey cancellation page has been added is a worrying sign that McGill’s are anticipating cancellations to become a regular thing but for the sake of everyone who depend on the bus service they cannot be allowed to become the norm.
“Recurring cancellations in the long term will have a detrimental impact on Paisley and Renfrewshire because people will be prevented from travelling in and out of the town centres – that means shops and businesses losing customers and people’s plans and routines disrupted.
“Journeys from Dykebar Hospital to Paisley have been cancelled…that’s passengers who want to visit patients let down and patients who have scheduled appointments let down.
“Driver recruitment is something that will have to be addressed as quickly as possible for the long term stability of local bus travel.”
He also called on the Scottish Government to intervene to address the issue and prevent more misery for commuters.
“I would urge Jenny Gilruth [transport minister] to monitor this situation closely and engage with industry bosses to seek solutions to the driver shortage."
"Scottish Labour want to see bus networks have better regulation and more public and cooperative ownership, which will make the bus a regular, affordable service for those who rely on it.”
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