Author: relbus

Better rural buses, better rural transport options

All aboard for battle over bus services!

East Lothian News: Published on Friday 24 December 2010 10:44

A campaign for better bus services in East Lothian has been launched.

Rural East Lothian Bus Users (RELBUs) group has been set up to lobby for “positive changes” to services, which have come under attack from unhappy passengers.

Activists say they want to work with bus companies “to provide the services that local people need and will use, at an affordable price”.

Jill Thomson from Dunbar urged the public to speak out and said it was hoped to enlist representatives from each town in the county.

“With many rail commuters being forced to use the bus service during the snow, it is important everyone is aware that the bus service is only going to get worse.

“We want as much feedback as we can get to lobby for a better bus service in East Lothian.”

Changes to First’s buses from 10th January

First SouthEast have confirmed that from 10 January 2010 they will be making extensive changes to their bus services around Dunbar including-

  • The current service X8 will be renumbered as X44 but will terminate at Haddington and will no longer serve Dunbar
  • The current service X6 will be renumbered as X45 and will no longer serve the Hallhill area

See full list of changes in SouthEast Scotland, or for new timetables see the First website from next week.

First’s Winter Promotion

First SouthEast are currently running a rather obscure promotion which will allow you to buy a 3-zone day ticket (e.g. for travel between Dunbar/North Berwick and Edinburgh) for £8.50. This compares with the usual price of £9.50 for a FirstDay ticket or £10.50 for a standard return from Dunbar. The promotional tickets are only available on the bus and you need to know to ask the driver for them. The promotion runs until 16th January.

Note that on the trains an off-peak day return from North Berwick to Edinburgh is only £5.70, and the peak fare is £9. For Dunbar a standard day return by train costs £9.40. Not sure that First’s promotion is so special after all…

Starting out

Rumours that First are cutting services to Dunbar have been the final straw. We’ve put up with expensive and unreliable bus transport for years and now a group of 10 concerned local people are getting together to work out how to make things better. You can join us by emailing morag@sustainingdunbar.org and asking to be added to the email list. We’re aiming to have a public launch meeting early in the new year.