Residents in a West Lothian village cut off by the lack of buses are calling on the council to step in and help.
Angry residents in Fauldhouse say many can't go to work and are isolated after McGill's Buses scrapped Sunday and late night services. Locals also claim the buses that do run are 'rarely reliable'.
As the Courier reports, West Lothian Council previously stepped in to award contracts which would reinstate bus services within the areas of Greenrigg and Blackridge.
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A tender process was also launched for Winchburgh but no commercial bus supplier came forward to operate a service between Winchburgh and Livingston.
But John Strang, who stays in Fauldhouse, says this still leaves people in the village "abandoned".
He said: "We feel we've been forgotten about, this has been going for too long. The buses are pathetic, you can't get a Sunday service or a late night bus now.
"Folk can't get to work or to hospital appointments. They said the cuts were made because not enough people used the buses, but they were so unreliable you never knew if one would turn up."
Responding to the situation, a spokesperson for West Lothian Council said the recent changes by McGill's were in direct response to the ongoing challenges being experienced across the country.
They continued: "The council's strategy is to prioritise the limited funding that we do have for people that would otherwise have no travel choices. Support was recently announced for subsidised services in Blackridge and Greenrigg. Without support, both areas would have been left entirely without any bus services.
"Although commercial services in Fauldhouse have been reduced by external providers, there remains commercial bus provision.
"The council cannot not solve all the issues within the commercial bus industry and a report will be presented to council executive in August that will provide an update on an ongoing investigation into potential options to alter subsidised routes to better meet the revisions within commercial routes across West Lothian.
"McGill's changes come at a time when the council is facing significant financial pressures due to a budget gap of over £39 million over the next five years. It would be unrealistic to suggest that the council could use public money to fund direct replacements for the cancelled commercial services."
"The work carried out by our team also confirms that even if additional funding were available, which it is not, there is simply not enough drivers to solve the issues being experienced within the commercial bus market overall.
"The council receives no Scottish Government funding to provide a local bus service. However, the council does use its own limited funding to support around 20 per cent of local bus services, to fill the gaps in the commercial bus network as best it can. Despite huge budget pressures, the council will continue to protect this funding and has not cut any bus services or funding to support bus services.
"It is clear that commercial operators simply cannot make some of their routes financially viable with current passenger numbers as they are."
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