Regarding service number 31, according to the Facebook page of South Lanarkshire Councillor David Watson,he has been in touch with First Glasgow and has been advised the present arrangement whereby this service terminates at Carmunnock will not change and, therefore, it will no longer serve East Kilbride.
-
Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
First Greater Glasgow
- Thread starter KGGXXXY
- Start date
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Surprised at the 31 being cut back but at the same time I'm not. It's been mentioned as a service that could be cut for years but at the same time it will cut off bus use in Stewartfield and Kirktonholme sadly. The 205 is the closest to those. If SPT didn't have so many problems I'd have thought they might be up for funding part of the route so it can continue to EK but obviously not given their current situation
Like the X1 there will definitely be backlash to any cut to the 31. A lot of people in EK think their services given the size of EK are pretty horrible currently plus it's mostly the older gen who will be affected by the 31 cut
I feel for the older people who rely on it. Its a key route from Castlemilk/Carmunnock to EK.
East Kilbride , one of Scotlands largest towns yet has poor connections.
I feel for the older people who rely on it. Its a key route from Castlemilk/Carmunnock to EK.
East Kilbride , one of Scotlands largest towns yet has poor connections.
Yeah definitely. If it even went to Philipshill then there would be a connection with the 6 that could be of use. Don't know what it'll mean for Stewartfield and Kirktonholme especially as from experience it's almost all elders who use the bus and it was never that quiet when I used it. I think the problem overall with East Kilbride is that housing isn't actually that expensive compared to some areas so a lot of people have cars and can afford them comfortably.
As far as the buses go the main problem is how unreliable they are. The 6, 18 and 201 in particular can be awful for reliability. It's an area of the network that needs a refresh but I doubt one is coming anytime soon
Yeah definitely. If it even went to Philipshill then there would be a connection with the 6 that could be of use. Don't know what it'll mean for Stewartfield and Kirktonholme especially as from experience it's almost all elders who use the bus and it was never that quiet when I used it. I think the problem overall with East Kilbride is that housing isn't actually that expensive compared to some areas so a lot of people have cars and can afford them comfortably.
As far as the buses go the main problem is how unreliable they are. The 6, 18 and 201 in particular can be awful for reliability. It's an area of the network that needs a refresh but I doubt one is coming anytime soon
The thing is quite often in areas of East Kilbride, excluding the south side of the town such as Greenhills , the bus will be a quicker option into Glasgow. But the bus has a bad image. Most of new housing in EK is on the edge and populated my more wealthy car owning families. Some of new housing has no bus link or very limited.
6 is fairly frequent , runs later than the 31 but can be unrelaible.
Walk to and from railway station i more pleasant but its only every half hour, hourly at present.
Might be worth some communication with local MSPs and Councillors to try and figure out what people actually need from bus services now. Could definitely avoid some of the bad press and image. Funding for buses could always be better but First could easily do more to get the public onside. Making people feel like they're being listened to would be a great help especially during a pandemic that's expected to cause passenger numbers to drop. Doing anything to make that drop as small as possible would be common sense surely?
overthewater
Established Member
- Joined
- 16 Apr 2012
- Messages
- 8,170
Is it possible the goverment funds will not pay for the X1?
GaryMcEwan
Established Member
The x1 and 31 cuts are just the start
No doubt about that. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks and months.
This week a used the bus to work seen they have put single dockers but on the 34a which was madness as most were full after a few stops
Not enough deckers to go about , only solution is social distancing dropped.
Got the same problem down my way in the mornings. It's pointless trying to get a 1 from the end of Yoker/Scotstoun because they're all getting full. Even with the 1C being a double decker it's not helping that much. Even if the buses were at half-capacity it would help so much so hopefully we aren't stuck with things as they are for too long
GaryMcEwan
Established Member
Not enough deckers to go about , only solution is social distancing dropped.
If it was to be dropped to one metre they could increase capacity but the Scottish Government are hell bent on keeping it at two metres.
overthewater
Established Member
- Joined
- 16 Apr 2012
- Messages
- 8,170
How would one metre help? You still can't sit behide anyone.
GaryMcEwan
Established Member
How would one metre help? You still can't sit behide anyone.
I think that rule has gone right out the window. I got the 18 home on Wednesday night and there was a few more than 19 on it.
There were also folk sitting behind each other upstairs...
One person can sit in every 2 seats if it was 1 metreHow would one metre help? You still can't sit behide anyone.
Industry people said when it was announced in England that it would not have much effect, maybe increase capacity by 1 or a few. If the seat spacing was slightly more generous than the normal, it would be about half normal capacity. Although they might get away with it anyway as there cannot be much in it. I have not seen anything about the 1m rule for buses since it was announced that it was to be changed in England though.
Last edited:
smtglasgow
Member
No doubt about that. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks and months.
Unfortunately I think it’s becoming very obvious that once the Scottish Government funding runs out (I’m guessing they’ll be at least another round of funding), we’re going to see some savage cuts right across the country. It’s a unique situation, but the bus companies first duty is to protect their shareholders, so they won’t shy away from cuts. With luck it might spark a debate about the future of the industry - the present model is going to be under unbearable strain. With First Glasgow you can guess the services under threat, but we’ll have to get used to reduced frequencies across the board and maybe the loss of some evening and Sunday services. Some of the smaller operators must be very worried about their own futures too. Basically, it’s a mess!
I think the thing that'll determine what happens next is if the government thinks there's enough of a positive image in the industry to heavily invest in it. First especially have a fairly horrific image to the public and they need to do more to get the public onside.
The bus industry needs investment but would you invest in an industry where the main companies don't exactly take on board what their customers think and have a very poor image? I'm not so sure that I would
Things also aren't helped by SPT's woes either
The bus industry needs investment but would you invest in an industry where the main companies don't exactly take on board what their customers think and have a very poor image? I'm not so sure that I would
Things also aren't helped by SPT's woes either
The government aren’t investing, they are subsidising services. there is no return in it for them money wise and your point about firsts image isn’t exactly valid as the government have bailed out a lot worse.I think the thing that'll determine what happens next is if the government thinks there's enough of a positive image in the industry to heavily invest in it. First especially have a fairly horrific image to the public and they need to do more to get the public onside.
The bus industry needs investment but would you invest in an industry where the main companies don't exactly take on board what their customers think and have a very poor image? I'm not so sure that I would
Things also aren't helped by SPT's woes either
Last edited by a moderator:
The government aren’t investing they are subsidising services there is no return in it for them money wise and your point about firsts image isn’t exactly valid as the government have bailed out a lot worse.
It is funny the Scottish Government always class their due payments for the concessionary travel scheme as investing.
Do we think there will be another increase in frequency or is that out the window?
Meant to be full service next week for the start of phase 3 but I think it'll be late like the changes for phase 2 were
Meant to be full service next week for the start of phase 3 but I think it'll be late like the changes for phase 2 were
The increase was only announced a few days before the change.