Campaigners left angry at council plans to remove the Springkerse Park and Ride service have welcomed the decision to reverse the planned cut.
The closure of the city centre service was one of the proposals initially included in the administration’s plans to close a £17 million funding black hole in Stirling Council’s finance.
But the plans were met with fury from people who regularly made use of the buses including commuters, school children and those accessing vital services.
The park and ride service offers free parking and bus travel in the city – with a regular service operating between the car park and the bus station.
Among those left frustrated by the plans were parents at St Modan’s High School, with the chair of the parent/teacher partnership at the school blasting a lack of consultation on the move to the Observer last month.
An online petition launched by Bannockburn resident Karen Travers over the proposal attracted more than 970 signatures at time of going to press alongside the physical petition in the city’s Morrisons store which has added more names to the opposition.
Karen’s daughter makes use of the park and ride to attend classes twice a week at Plus Forth Valley and her parents faced having to send her on taxis or lose out on the service entirely.
Reacting to news of the reversal this week, Karen said: “It’s a total relief and I know for us personally it was a big relief; it’s just good to know that we won’t be losing the service.
“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen until I got the email from [councillor] Jen Preston after the meeting that they were able to reverse the decision.
“It means all of the hard work opposing this has paid off - between the online petition and the physical petition in Morrisons, there must have been between 1500 and 1600 signatures.
“We plan on keeping the petitions running just in case to show the opposition to this if it is planned in the future but I’m hoping now they’ve made this decision that they won’t change their mind.
“It’s always a very well used and busy service and it was a big demographic of people that were set to be affected - from schoolkids to people living in Balfron and Buchlyvie coming into Stirling to do their shopping.”
