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Humbie, East & West Saltoun and Bolton Community Council

Iain Gray - Bus Regulation (Scotland) Bill

Our Community Council covers a rural area within East Lothian. The

entire area sits within a 20 mile radius of Edinburgh. Humbie has no bus

service, yet it is less than 3 miles from the main A68. East & West

Saltoun and Bolton have very few buses during the day, no buses in the

evening and none on Sundays. This service is provided by a local firm

Prentice Coaches. East and West Saltoun are 6 miles and Bolton less

than 3 miles from Haddington from where there are regular bus services

to Edinburgh.

Over the last few years our community has seen a significant

deterioration in bus service provision, both in terms of timetabling and

frequency. The consequences of this have meant that all members of

our community are reliant on the private car for accessing work, shops,visiting relatives etc. Non drivers have suffered most from this and rely

increasingly on neighboursand parents goodwill for their

transportation needs. In some cases non drivers have had to change

jobs and/or consider moving house.

The deterioration in bus services has been such a concern in our

community that we undertook a survey. This concluded that the bus

service is neither suited for working adults or for accessing local services

such as shops, doctors etc.. This survey is available from the Humbie,

East & West Saltoun and Bolton Community Council upon request.

Please consider and respond to the following.

1.Do you support the general aim of the proposed Bill? Please indicate

yes/no/undecided and explain the reasons for your response.

We support the main aim of the bill as it would hopefully give local transport

authorities more of a say in their local bus services and would make the running of

bus services more democratic.

It would hopefully make services more stable and avoid situations like the fiasco withFirst Bus in East Lothian where so many services were stopped at very short notice.

2.What would be the main practical advantages of the legislation proposed? What

would be the disadvantages

The advantages would be the removal of rules which frustrate integrated transport.

There should be better timetabling and hopefully less reliance on the car.

One of the disadvantages would be that it could exclude small local operators like

Prentice in East Lothian who provide local employment and have local knowledge.

They would be unlikely to be able to bid for franchises. Ultimately this would lead to

a reduction in service providers, therefore allowing large companies to monopoliseservices and dictate their terms.

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3. In what ways do you envisage reregulation being used to improve bus services?

Hopefully, there could be more integrated ticketing and timetables which would

make journeys more convenient. There should be ways of specifying minimum levels

of service.

4. How can community transport be better utilised to serve local communities and

particularly low passenger volume routes?

The worry is that if Community Transport is better utilised it could mean that this will

become the norm in rural areas, particularly in those areas that at present have a

bus service that is maybe not highly profitable. There has to be a distinction between

the rural areas that are very remote and therefore Community Transport may be the

only viable solution and rural areas that are within a few miles of main towns. In these

areas, near to towns, a bus service with sensible timetabling into the nearest town

should be possible.

5. Do you agree that the Traffic Commissioner should be able to impose greater

financial penalties on operators who a) fail to meet the terms of the franchise or b)

walk away from the franchise altogether?

Yes, providing that any financial penalties are used to benefit the bus services as a

whole.

6. What is your assessment of the likely financial implications of the proposed Bill to

you or your organisation? What other significant financial implications are likely to

arise?

There could be a negative effect if small local bus companies are unable to tender

for franchises.

7. Is the proposed Bill likely to have any substantial positive or negative implications

for equality? If it is likely to have a substantial negative implication, how might this be

minimised or avoided?

In our area it is the non car driving adults who rely on the bus and older school

children who want to use the bus to gain some independence from their taxi driving

parents. If services can be tailored to the needs of these groups they could use the

buses more and therefore bus companies would become more viableprofit.

8. Do you have any other comment or suggestion that is relevant to the need for or

detail of this Bill?

There should be liaison with rail services in order for there to be better connections

between the two. They should be working together to produce seamless journeys.

Proposals must seek to protect, and encourage, the small bus operators who provide

local employment and local knowledge. Large franchises risk creating monopolies of

large bus companies who can then dictate their terms.