Angus bus problems are at the top of the inbox

Well, it is certainly the subject of a great many approaches by constituents concerned about how they are going to cope this winter. But believe it or not, there’s a more dominant topic than that as far as email traffic to my office is concerned, and that is the woeful bus provision users have been experiencing these past months.

I have rarely seen some much upset and anger as constituents are conveying to me over the completely unreliable and frankly unacceptable service they are experiencing across Angus. Driver shortages are the major cause - although anecdotally breakdowns are a significant contributory factor as well – and we can point to Brexit, the Pandemic and traditionally poor rates of pay in the industry for that.

In the interests of balance, seasonal illness and Covid absences are unavoidable, and Stagecoach, the main service provider, has undertaken a major recruitment drive centred on Arbroath and, on occasion, drafted in drivers from Fife. We have also seen timetable changes implemented which we were told would deliver greater reliability, and yet there is little sign of improvement.

What concerns me – and I have conveyed this to the company in clear terms – is the very real, extremely serious impacts that cancellations and no-shows have on my constituents. I’m thinking of the college and university students who miss lessons, the workers who are having to set off for their employment hours ahead of schedule, the folk who miss hospital appointments and the people who make it into Dundee but have to wait hours for a return bus or find there is no such option available.

And apart from the inconvenience experienced, this is forcing those who have cars to return to using them with all the Climate Change consequences. In the longer term, a change in legislation affords council’s the opportunity to run their own bus services through franchising, partnership or setting up municipal companies. I believe this needs to be grasped so that the services on offer to the public are the ones they need not the ones they are getting. In the shorter term, we just need some sign of improvement.