An Inverness community council chairman has hit out at a new bus route planned for the city.
Stagecoach will launch its route 8 service on Monday, running between Craig Dunain and Croy.
The company claims that the new route will run up to every 10 minutes from Monday to Saturday and up to every 15 minutes on Sundays.
But the chairman of Smithton and Culloden Community Council, David McGrath said yesterday that the proposals were “a con trick” and failed to deliver his group’s desired improvements.
Mr McGrath has long campaigned for a regular service between Culloden and Smithton and Raigmore, to allow residents to reach the city’s main hospital more easily.
He was initially pleased at Stagecoach’s announcement but criticised the company after seeing their new timetable.
It shows that the section of route between Culloden and Croy will only run hourly rather than every 10 minutes.
He said: “The only thing that has changed is the bus numbers.
“This is not the improvement wanted to see. People who need to go to Raigmore for clinics, to work and for visiting cannot get there easily from Culloden.
“It is a con trick.”
He said that the community council would now continue their efforts to find another operator to provide a service which suited their needs.
But a spokeswoman for Stagecoach North Scotland said: “Common sections of route 8 will benefit from the increased frequency particularly on the Highfield side of town. We have listened to passenger feedback and have increased the number of journeys from Culloden to Raigmore in the peaks.
“We have carried out extensive route monitoring before planning this route and we found the level of patronage on services in Culloden does not justify increasing our frequency from the existing hourly service at off-peak times.”
Steve Walker, managing director of Stagecoach North Scotland, said: “Our extensive route monitoring led us to the idea of this route and the timetable will make a real difference to everyone making the journey in to the city centre.”