Getting a water taxi to West Lothian's fastest growing community could soon be easier than getting a bus.
Winchburgh is the site of a number of large developments which will see almost 4,000 new homes built by the end of the decade, as well as infrastructure which already includes motorway links and a new boating marina linked to the Union Canal.
And residents may find themselves making more use of that after the village was left with no regular bus service until August at least.
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The marina's opening has already prompted a plea on the development site's social media for a boat service to Glasgow or Edinburgh in lieu of a long promised railway station.
And that call is even more urgent now after McGill’s buses withdrew their commercial service at the start of May. West Lothian Council had tried to secure another operator for the service which connects Winchburgh to Livingston six miles away.
Only one operator came forward, but then pulled out during the evaluation process before the contract could be awarded.
Nicola Gill, Passenger Transport Manager for the council told Executive: “The tender has concluded without a contract awarded. This is a far from ideal situation. The absence of a public transport link from Winchburgh to Livingston will have an impact on passengers accessing key services and local amenities.”
Ms Gill told the meeting that the council's basis of the tender had been “open and flexible, more so than traditional tenders”.
It did not specify timetables or routes, simply a connection from Winchburgh development site to Livingston. This was done as per the pump prime developer funding from Winchburgh to enable the establishment of a bus service which could become viable as more people begin to use it.
Answering repeated questions from SNP group leader and local councillor Janet Campbell, Ms Gill assured the Executive that the council did all it could to encourage operators to take on the contract. The contract was for a commercial route and the council cannot by law compete with commercial services.
Councillor Campbell said that at a meeting of the Winchburgh community council there was anger from local people at the lack of input from the council.
Ms Gill told the meeting: “There’s not a lack of will within the council to have a bus to Winchburgh. There’s not an issue of lack of funding. The issue is with market capacity.”
Local Labour councillor Tony Boyle said he had also been at the meeting with the community council where McGill’s had stated its reasons for quitting the service.
He told the Executive: “They got a hard time but were robust. They withdrew service because they were losing money and they had a shortage of drivers . They were pulling out to concentrate on other routes.”
Councillor Angela Doran-Timson, Conservative for the ward, asked what potential there was to provide a service to Winchburgh, suggesting a community transport operation similar to the town centre service provided for Broxburn.
Ms Gill agreed that would be considered along with ongoing discussions with other commercial operators in the wider and Third sector providers.
She added that the council’s ongoing longer term review of passenger transport is looking at ways of developing public transport. It will look at other transport models including community led transport and demand responsive transport .
Managed by Scottish Canals, Winchburgh marina can accommodate up to 20 barges, with plans for a further 29 moorings along the canal. In time, there will be facilities to support canal users, as well as restaurants and cafes.
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