Agree with you on all points!
The sensationalist news headlines get very tiresome after a while, The one that tickles me is "vital" - its an adjective SPT like to use.
https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news...einstate-vital-citybus-15-west-end-bus-route/
http://www.spt.co.uk/2013/11/spt-secures-vital-bus-services-within-renfrewshire/
http://www.spt.co.uk/corporate/2008/06/spt-invests-in-vital-bus-services-2/
If services are "vital" enough then surely a decent amount of people would be using them to make them commercially viable rather than having to use scarce public funds?
That's not to say I would leave people Isolated without a bus service- I strongly believe that within the realms of commercial viability bus services should be as comprehensive as possible, but if a bus is carrying one or two concessions at considerable loss- how can that be justified on existing cost bases and the fiasco that is the concession card scheme? Especially when in other places much more lucrative demand is outstripping supply.
Eaglesham will never justify more than what it already has to either Glasgow or East Kilbride. It's a small reasonably well off large village, plenty of cars littering the streets - and well connected by main roads and motorways. It only had the decent service it used to have to Glasgow as a hangover from the Clydeside days and the bus war at deregulation, and then the days when GCT and Strathclyde Buses flooded the route to stave off further competition. When it comes to East Kilbride especially any journey time or frequency would never be competitive with the convenience of the car and theres no way you could even half fill a bus without making it go round the houses in East Kilbride like the 395 currently does.
Clydebank - like it or not, there will never be another direct bus to the QEUH. The SPT criteria for interchange is complied with. Buses every 7/8 minutes on the 2 that travels though the majority of Clydebank to Partick to connect with the 77 every 10 minutes to the Hospital. Or take the train from Dalmuir, Clydebank, Yoker, Singer or Drumry to Partick and connect there.
When it comes to First taking off the 2 from Airdrie- everyone knew it was going to happen at some point. It's very difficult to compete with the train to Airdrie and Coatbridge- it's faster, more frequent and runs all day and all night long. The only time the 2 will be really missed is when the trains are off and there's not much alternative to get from Glasgow to Coatbridge and Airdrie. The fact that it's survived this long is good going.