Bus breakdowns prompt fresh call for Stagecoach improvements as Black Isle councillor hails willingness to listen
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A FRESH call to tackle bus unreliability in Ross-shire has been made after locals reported missing out on salary and appointments as a result.
Black Isle Councillor Craig Fraser said they have been pushed to hold a meeting with Stagecoach and passengers' representatives by the number and the urgency of the complaints about local bus services.
"The final straw came when I heard that some people had seen part of their salary cut off because of the delays," he said. "This was totally unacceptable. "
"We have heard that the unreliability of the service resulted also in people being late for medical appointments and exams, which meant the issue had gone too far.
"If passengers are lacking confidence in public transport we have a problem, more and more people will take up cars and not everyone can afford it so we really need to find a solution."
The amount of breakdowns led Fortrose resident, Richard Trendall, to enquire about the figures related to the disservice.
He said: "I was conscious that there had been many breakdowns and delays in the past months so I decided to try and find out how many exactly they were.
"However, the reply was just corporate nonsense and didn't answer at all to my enquiry. I then tried to get in touch with them again three times but my email have been completely ignored.
"I found it very rude and arrogant from Stagecoach to ignore a simple request and showed a total lack of respect for the public."
Councillor Fraser said following a meeting with the company: "It's good that Stagecoach came along to listen seriously to what passengers and constituents had to say.
"We are asking passengers to keep a log and send us any issues or complaints they come across so that we can keep track of it and be aware of which changes are needed so that we can raise them in further meetings with Stagecoach."
Commercial director Daniel Laird, who attended the meeting, said: "We regularly attend community council meetings and as in the past, the meetings were well organised and chaired well.
"It was clear that those in attendance had frustrations with our service delivery, and they appreciated the opportunity to highlight these issues and also discuss some of the reasons behind these issues and how we could address them.
"We are aware of issues regarding our service delivery in the area and we are working hard to resolve these. In the Inverness area we have reduced the level of breakdowns by 41 per cent in the last three months. When customers can provide us with specific details regarding the date, time and stop they have had a problem with one of our services it really helps us to improve on these situations.
"The new timetables introduced on 19 August were a result of an extensive exercise to analyse feedback from our customers, staff and tracking systems to understand where we needed to adjust our services following the expansion of our network in January."
A new meeting will be held towards the end of October to keep track of the ongoing developments.
