A village councillor has urged McGill’s Buses to consider his “rescue plan” for services in Kilbarchan after attending a crunch meeting with management.
Andy Doig made an 11th hour appeal to the transport operator to expand its 307, which runs in the evening from Lochwinnoch to Johnstone Station via Howwood, into the Easwald Bank area of Kilbarchan.
The plea comes as changes to the number 32 and 38 services, which sparked criticism from elected members, are scheduled to kick in from the beginning of next month.
The 32’s timetable will be reduced to operate hourly during the day, Monday to Saturday, instead of every 20 or 30 minutes, while the 38 will see a slight reduction in the number of early morning and early evening journeys, as well as other adjustments.
Councillor Doig said: “I had a one-to-one meeting with McGill’s management at their Johnstone depot.
“I put to them a specific rescue plan which would offset the cuts to existing Kilbarchan services, by a slight detour off Beith Road into the Easwaldbank area of Kilbarchan and give commuters an extra lifeline to connect them to both Milliken Park Station and Johnstone Station.
“This gives them a wider range of travel options to Paisley and Glasgow...my point being that of the three villages in my ward only Kilbarchan has no train station so regular bus services are especially important.
“I understand McGill’s feel they are struggling financially but we need to work together to find a solution which will work for my Kilbarchan constituents.
“Another aspect to this is that the 307 service is due to change anyway on May 1 and be re-routed to take in Johnstone Castle prior to going to Johnstone Station.
“For this change McGill’s are getting an SPT subsidy, so my key question to them at our meeting was whether this new SPT subsidy would be sufficient for them to take in the new Kilbarchan loop.
“An expanded 307 after May 1 would crucially link all the villages in Ward 9 and vitally improve connectivity by allowing Kilbarchan commuters to use either Milliken Park or Johnstone Station.”
A McGill’s spokesperson said: “We have been in dialogue with Councillor Doig regarding Kilbarchan services and discussed future provision after May 1.
“Regarding the 307 service, this is operated by McGill’s on behalf of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and it would be for SPT to change the route or timetable of this supported service.
“Councillor Doig’s suggestion to turn a bus at Easwald Bank cannot be physically achieved as there is nowhere to turn a bus that allows a bus stop to be served.
“We recognise that services are important for communities such as Kilbarchan and SPT has amended some journeys on the X6A service in Johnstone to serve Kilbarchan, meaning that the 38, 32 and X6B will ensure bus provision for the area in future.”
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