Raging bus passengers have hit out at the decision to alter a key bus route - fearing it could leave thousands isolated.
Elaine King, 64, who works as a registered anaesthetist nurse at the Western General and her husband Sean King, 71, from Clermiston, fear alterations to the Lothian 41 service will leave residents without a reliable bus service.
With the 41 rerouted to accommodate the new Cammo estate, the only service that Elaine can use to get to the hospital is the Lothian Country 43. But she says that service only runs around once an hour and is often overcrowded or unreliable.
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This has meant that she has had to rely on using a car with other colleagues to get to her key worker role at the hospital. Elaine says that the removal of the 41 from Queensferry Road is puzzling as now workers at the hospital, who must arrive on time, are using cars rather than public transport, something that goes against the green agenda of both Lothian buses and Edinburgh City Council.
Family members have also had to regularly drive to pick up the nurse as the nights draw in and she is left to depend on an unreliable service. She asked why Lothian did not think to introduce a replacement service or continue the 41 along its traditional route knowing that this would happen.
On the issue, she said: “It has caused a lot of stress for me. I used to get the 41 with work colleagues along to our work but now we are having to rely on car pooling.
“This impacts service delivery at the hospital for a wide range of workers. It is not only ourselves that have been affected by this but there are also those that work in Craigleith and elsewhere that no longer have a bus service to rely on.
“Lothian have admitted themselves that they do not have the numbers to cope with demand. I am becoming more and more stressed with having to rely on the 43 as sometimes it shows up as if it is coming on the app only for it to disappear.
“Sometimes you finish slightly late and if you miss the bus then you can be waiting 45 minutes to an hour for another one. I feel as though the decision makers have not looked at the bigger picture.
“There are so many people who are now isolated on this stretch of road. It seems to fly in the face of the green initiative that is meant to be promoted in the city.
“More and more people will now be relying on cars and the Queensferry Road is already extremely busy at peak times.”
Elaine’s husband Sean relies on the bus to go into town to see friends. But he has been put off recently as the 43 has a limited number of stops in town and can again be unreliable.
He said: “I feel there has not been an environmental impact study on this decision. There will be staff members who work at the Parkgrove shops that have to get two or three unreliable buses.
“There is a fault in the system by taking away the 41 and not replacing it with anything.”
A petition, started by their daughter Andrea King, has amassed 500 signatures and it aims to get Lothian to rethink their decision to axe the 41 route along Queensferry Road. In it, she says: “Queensferry road from Barnton is a main road into Edinburgh yet the whole area of Barnton, Parkgrove and Clermiston has been cut off from getting into town and back.
“It has cut off nurses , staff and domestics from getting to the Western General. It has also stopped working people getting into town for their jobs .
“Lothian buses need to get this route back as soon as possible.”
Local SNP councillor, Euan Hyslop, has said that hero NHS staff have been let down by the removal of the service. He has called on Lothian buses to return the route.
He said: “Since the 41 was rerouted to the new Cammo housing estate via Cramond, residents of Clermiston and Parkgrove have been left with one Lothian Country bus along Queensferry Road. The Lothian Country 43 is now the only service into town along one of Edinburgh's busiest routes.
“The service has become renowned for being unreliable: often late, or not showing up at all. Constituents have told me tales of waiting hours for a bus that doesn't show after long night shifts at the Western General, trying to get home.
“Others have written to me to say that they no longer use public transport as a direct result of the change to the service and the unreliability of the 43. If we are to meet our net zero targets, and if we accept that increasing public transport usage has a part to play in that, then this council administration needs to take the responsibility seriously and ensure quality public transport provision for all Edinburgh's communities.
“I urge the council administration and bus operators to listen to the community. Listen to their anger and frustration, and to the solutions that they themselves are proposing.”
Lothian Buses were contacted for comment.
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