Your reaction to changes to Falkirk bus services

First Bus announced earlier this week that it is to make significant changes to several of the routes in its Falkirk network.
First Bus will no longer use Falkirk bus station.First Bus will no longer use Falkirk bus station.
First Bus will no longer use Falkirk bus station.

This includes no longer using Falkirk bus station as it is no longer ‘fit for purpose’ and stopping the direct link to the Gyle Centre.

However, there will now be more connections to busy locations such as the Central Retail Park and Stenhousemuir Asda.

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The changes to the services, which come into operation on August 20, understandably provoked some strong reactions on social media.

Here are a selection of your comments from our Facebook page.

Janet Boyne - “I am confused. Did Falkirk council not give First bus a contract to provide the original service. We now have buses with an F on the front and I have been told these are services First bus has pulled out of and Falkirk council (our money) is paying the bill. The retail centre is Ok but the rest of Falkirk is a mess.”

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Patricia Schofield - “And just when M&S has closed we do not have a direct link to the Gyle. I live in Bonnybridge and now we don’t have direct bus to Stirling, whoever is in charge at First Bus certainly does not have the customer in mind when making these changes.”

Jim Wallace - “Can’t even get to Denny from Falkirk Road Bonnybridge.”

Lee-Ann Gilligan - “Stupid idea, it’s a bottle neck outside asda it will end up causing chaos at the traffic lights.”

Philip Vass - “It went downhill years ago when they axed the Glasgow Kilsyth bus and we used to have a direct bus link to Livingston. Given there’s no shops in Falkirk you would think these links would be popular. Also they axed the popular 10/11 bus so many areas of Larbert including Main Street have no bus link or direct bus to Camelon.”

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Bryan Smith - “They should have pulled out of the bus station a long time ago, I don’t think many people are upset about that. Newmarket Street is busy enough but will it be able to handle more or do we just wait a while and First cuts the services again to “solve the problem” they could get? When the traffic gets bad the road falls apart for about 10 minutes or so. Not like there’s any better place to put the buses through though.”

Ian Kennedy - “Little bus stop outside Asda won’t cope, going to be gridlock once the bus station closes.”

Andrea Mclellan - “ Utterly disgusted. Myself and a lot of others currently use the number 5 to get to work in Bo’ness. At the moment the bus coming back is 19 minutes past ten which is ideal as we do back shift so there’s no standing about. Just been informed the new service, the bus is at 10.51. I live in Bainsford which with the new service, having to leave even earlier and getting home after midnight.”

Stuart Govan - “It’s a joke, accident waiting to happen. How long before some poor child or oap is knocked down or killed? Newmarket street ain’t big enough for all the extra traffic.”

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Philip Vass - “And also it must mean Falkirk is the only “major” town in Scotland to not have a proper bus station!”

Shona Thomson - “It would be nice to have a bus service to go to Morrisons.”

Alan Connor - “Nearly every bus goes through Asda currently, so no real increase.”