Opinion: John Loudon, Cramond & Barnton CC, calls for change.

I have a long-standing personal and formerly-professional interest in bus services in and around Scotland. I believe Lothian Buses (LB) serve our city well; we are fortunate to have them. However, their handling of their recently-announced service changes saw them drop somewhat in my estimation and I wish to offer some personal views and suggestions in the wake of what has taken place.

LB is owned 100% by Transport for Edinburgh (TfE) which in turn is owned 91% by City of Edinburgh Council (CEC). There are four Elected Councillors on the Board, which is chaired by Cllr. Scott Arthur.

What has happened?

LB is quite properly run as a successful (and hugely important) commercial business.

It would certainly not be reasonable for Elected Councillors on the LB Board or sitting on, for example, the Transport and Environment Committee, to seek to micromanage LB services. However, I would expect they should be informed about important planned service changes so as to anticipate and then express local concerns. This doesn’t appear to have happened in advance of the May route changes, which came to them and to a good portion of the travelling public as a big surprise.

I sensed immediate dismay on the part of the Councillors and my mailbox began to fill with bus users’ dissatisfaction and resentment.

There is the clear perception of a communication breakdown here and of a poorly-handled attempt to mend it. I wouldn’t want to see this repeated.

The matter hinges on the recent termination of Service 41 and replacement with Service 47 following a new route south from its arrival in the West End. This had been subject to much rumour and speculation and it caused significant angst in and around my area in the north-west of the city, an area many would say is already poorly served by public transport in comparison with other parts of our city.

The public in North West Edinburgh, not least those who are old, infirm or who have young children, have lost reasonable access by the Service 41 to Princes Street, George St, the bus and railway stations, the Mound, the Festival Theatre, as well as the St James Quarter which the Council have actively promoted. For those that do go there, extra time is now involved plus a material cost to those individuals who have to buy two or more tickets. The Service 41 withdrawal has also had a marked impact on the travelling public in the South of the city. Councillors’ mailboxes have filled up there too.

In overall terms, the dropping of Service 41 came as a very unwelcome shock. Even our local Councillor Kevin Lang, who sits on the Transport Committee, was unaware of the planned changes, although CEC officials clearly knew about them well before the necessary application was made to the Traffic Commissioners. As I understand it, the officials made no negative comments. Again, one might ask why that was the case, given the impact of those changes on a sizeable portion of the city bus-user constituency and on prized ‘connectivity’.

What needs to be done?

I believe we need some changes to governance and culture within Lothian Buses to ensure, insofar as commercial and operational constraints allow, that provision of bus services is more responsive to communities’ needs.

We need far better communication and explanation for alterations to services. In this case, I have seen nothing at all from the Head of Communications at TfE.

Councillor Lang tabled a Council motion on 18^th May* (attached) which brought unanimous cross-party support for change. That was a welcome first-step. This is not about politics but our bus services.

Looking ahead, I’d suggest heed should be paid to the City Council’s Public Transport Action Plan, to reflect properly the need for connectivity and to make LB more accountable to City and regional residents for the services it provides.

We need improvement in live bus timetabling information and the introduction of integrated ticketing – to enable the purchase of a single ticket for an origin-to-destination trip and return if needed, which may require use of more than one bus service and possibly the tram and trains.

There is also a need for improved liaison between the City Council’s Roads and Public Transport staff, Lothian Buses and local communities, this to ensure that roads and active travel proposals (e.g., on-road cycle lanes) do not have unforeseen and / or unacceptable implications e.g., delays to commercial or public transport services.

How to move forward?

We require a concerted effort. I’d like Community Councils, working with the EACC, to put pressure on all of their local Councillors to highlight bus user concerns and the desire for change to Cllr. Scott Arthur, Convenor of the Transport Committee, and his fellow members.

Cllr. Arthur, on the Board of TfE, can speak directly to TfE CEO, George Lowder. They can establish what statutory changes are needed to allow the Transport Committee better to work with TfE in advance of important service adjustments, so that local polling and feedback can properly lay the foundation for big changes in routing patterns and the like.

It may be that the legislative structure of the LB – TfE – CEC relationship precludes this. I don’t know. However, in the first instance, the important step is to invite Cllr. Arthur to look into the situation and to report to the Transport Committee on how we get a better communications and public relations deal from Lothian Buses.

*Lothian Buses Lib Dem Motion 18 May 23 - See Menu, under Roads & Transport .

End/JL