Fed-up locals living in a West Lothian village say the bus service is so poor old folk are left stranded and people have been sacked from their jobs for not turning up on time.
Members of Fauldhouse Community Council have already voiced their frustration with Lothian Buses after the firm cancelled the 281 Lothian Country service in Fauldhouse last year.
But they say the situation has become even worse recently as a second service in the village - the 26, now run by McGill’s covering Livingston, Bathgate and Fauldhouse - is unreliable and quite often fails to turn up.
John Strang, a member of the community council, said they have tried to contact Lothian Country Buses pleading to have the service reinstated, but have received no response.
John said, given the changes to the route, even if the 26 was a reliable, it’s still not an adequate replacement for the village as it does not travel into Edinburgh.
And he added when changes to services around West Lothian were made last year, Blackridge - with a population of around 2000 - received an extra bus route from Lothian Country – and that Fauldhouse with a population of nearly 5000 has no service
John told the Courier: “You’d think we were in the middle of nowhere, but we have a large population and it’s not good enough.
“Ideally we want the 281 reinstated, but we have written to Lothian Country several times now and have never heard anything back.
“But there are problems with the 26 as well, carry on like it stopping in Longridge, or not even turning up at all.
“It’s just not reliable, people are really frustrated. There was one morning I went out for a bus at 8.24am an it just didn’t come.
“People are obviously trying to get to their work at that time, I know of a couple of folk sacked from Aldi and Amazon because the buses haven’t been reliable.
“But it’s not just that, elderly people are struggling to get to appointments and hospital and things.
“I’ve actually taken people places myself when I’ve seen them standing stranded at a bus stop.
“I’m lucky I do have a car, but a lot of people don’t.”
A Lothian Country Buses spokesperson said the 281 service had been scrapped due to lack of demand.
They continued: “Lothian Country is a commercial business which is committed to delivering for all of our customers in what continues to be an exceptionally challenging operational climate.
“Service 281 was suspended in late 2021 and at present there are no plans to reinstate this service due to a lack of customer demand.”
McGill’s Group – who took over the running of First Scotland East’s business in Falkirk, Stirling and West Lothian in September – said it will take two years to fully restore the service to the standards they expect after being pressed about its performance by councillors in Falkirk.
Previous owners First Bus put their poor performances down to low passenger numbers following the pandemic and a lack of drivers.
McGill’s say that recruitment is ongoing and that they increased the hourly rate for drivers as soon as they took over.
They are also currently recruiting extra customer service staff as the number of complaints they are receiving is around 500 per cent higher than they would have expected, given their experience as a bus operator in other parts of Scotland.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Service following similar complaints in Falkirk, Ralph Roberts, CEO of McGill’s Group, said: “We really appreciate both the patience our customers have shown as we work to improve services as well as the exceptional hard work of our local team to help make that happen.
“McGill’s chose to buy the business because our group is very experienced in operating services that serve both urban and rural areas. However, it is clear from the outset that investment will be needed in order for the business to catch up and reach the quality standard we want to offer.
“Services in the region also experienced higher levels of customer complaints than we were anticipating, partly as a result of the legacy vehicle issues we are now addressing. We have worked to improve local customer service systems but as a result of the overall improvements we’re making we are already seeing less complaints as we deliver improved service reliability and punctuality.
“We have made huge strides in the last six weeks but it will take time.
"Over the coming years we plan to make significant strides in order to get the business and its services into the shape we insist upon.”
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