Council and SWESTRAN bus announcement ‘raise more questions than answers’
There are growing concerns for current staff and passengers.
Dumfries and Galloway Council and South West of Scotland Transport Partnership (SWESTRANS) are being accused of failing to acknowledge the full scale of the bus crisis.
Yesterday morning, it was revealed by the council and SWESTRANS that 45 new bus contracts for school and subsidised local transport services had been awarded.
However, there was no mention of the commercial routes operated by Stagecoach, which Greatest Hits Radio have been told are not covered by council subsidies.
These routes include the X75 Dumfries to Stranraer, as well as town routes within Dumfries and Stranraer.
So far, there has been no clarity on if anyone will be taking them on after summer, leaving them at risk.
South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth says, “This statement raises more questions than it answers. It may offer some short-term reassurance on school transport and supported bus routes, but it completely ignores the looming disaster of Stagecoach’s withdrawal from the commercial bus network.
"Thousands of passengers still have no idea who, if anyone, will be running their bus come August—and over 130 local workers are being kept in the dark about their futures.
“The Council and SWESTRANs cannot claim it’s business as usual when the majority of passengers and workers face such uncertainty. When the region’s main bus operator walks away, leaving communities potentially cut off, people expect leadership from the council and SWESTRANs—not spin.”
He added: “Stagecoach have treated passengers and workers abysmally by walking out on the region, but Dumfries and Galloway Council and SWESTRANs now need to step up. They need to take real responsibility for developing a proper plan to protect all bus services—not just those already subsidised.
“It’s deeply frustrating that despite having powers under the Transport Act to set up a publicly owned bus company—powers I fought to secure back in 2019—the Council has failed to act by developing their own local bus company. That inaction has left our region dangerously exposed.
“It may be that those private providers who have secured subsidised routes from the council and SWESTRANs step in to fill the gap in commercial services, but the Council and SWESTRANs need to show some leadership not, shrug their shoulders and say it has nothing to do with them. Just leaving it all to the market is how we have find ourselves in this mess, when the council should be looking to provide services themselves.”
His call to “explore the creation of a municipal bus company”, similar to other models such as Lothian Buses, has been reiterated, to secure a long-term future in local transport.
The local authority and SWESTRANS have been asked to respond.