McGill's revision of network piles pressure on West Lothian Council

Earlier this month McGill’s Eastern Scottish informed the council of its intent to revise the network. This will see a reduction in very early morning services, evening services and Sunday service removal.

The cuts will hit smaller communities from Blackridge to Winchburgh.

Councillors this week rejected a plea from the SNP for an emergency committee to fund services for communities cut off from public transport routes.

A report on the council’s options to respond to the McGill’s cuts in commercial services will come to the April meeting of the executive.

Councillor Diane Calder warned that communities would be cut off and called for emergency funding, saying: “We can’t wait six months.”

The council backed away from slashing subsidised public transport funding in this year’s budget.

Nicola Gill, the interim public transport manager, won agreement from the environment and sustainability policy development and scrutiny panel to begin a re-tendering process, with new subsidised service contracts issued in six months’ time.

She also won support for a long term review of public transport options for the future of the bus network, 80 per cenet of which is commercially operated. Only 20 per cent of the service is supported by the council’s public transport budget.

Councillor Calder asked: “Can we as a council form a cross party emergency working group led by officers to ensure more communities are not cut off and can we apply emergency funding until these contracts are worked out?”

Ms Gill told the meeting that staff were looking at resources and options to bring before the council executive: “The most recent planned changes by McGill’s are expected to be the most significant commercial network change in a number of years.”

She told the meeting that the important issue to call out was one of resources, adding: “The council would not be able subsidise everything it currently does and include additional gaps which may be created.

“It’s Important that the subsidised network better reflects the significant changes in both the commercial operations and the needs and wants of passengers.”

Temporary subsidised contracts have been issued by the council for the last three years and the bus network, which was already losing customers before the pandemic, struggled to survive through lockdown.

It is these radical changes in customer demand that have prompted the council’s public transport team to set up a long term review.

Rejecting Councillor Calder’s demand for the PDSP to agree to emergency funding, committee chair Councillor Tom Conn said: “I’m not quite sure what it would actually achieve.”

“Nicola has mentioned there is a process going forward to April. We don’t have the financial resource to support any services. One of the reasons McGIll’s is withdrawing services is because Scottish Government support for the bus network ends on March 31.”