Pleas for a bus firm to add an extra stop to serve “stranded” passengers in a Moray town have been rejected.
Stagecoach pulled their 36 service, which travelled from Elgin to Forres through Findhorn and Kinloss, earlier this year.
After mounting public pressure, including a protest of more than 100 people and a 300-strong petition, the company relented and retained an amended route from Forres to Findhorn.
However, the changes have resulted in passengers in the Forbeshill area of Forres being left without a bus stop in their community.
Moray MP Douglas Ross wrote to the firm to ask for services to be re-routed from their regular route only to have his plea rejected for “commercial reasons”.
Last night Stagecoach insisted residents in the area still have access to several services on nearby Victoria Road.
Mr Ross explained that booking a dial-a-bus up to 24 hours in advance or paying for taxis was not viable for some older residents.
He said: “These passengers are meantime left stranded, and there is also a similar situation in Elgin at the South Lesmurdie, Pansport and Bishopmill areas.
“With that in mind and following discussion with several constituents who came to see me at my surgeries, I have written to other local bus companies to see if they could provide some sort of service.”
“I realise that it is a big ask but I am very disappointed with the response from Stagecoach. I hope that these companies might be able to come up with some sort of solution for a way forward.”
A Stagecoach spokeswoman explained that the firm was operating in a “challenging economic environment” and the businesses was constantly under review.
She added: “Unfortunately one of the consequences of changes of a recent review in May was that we needed to withdraw services from Forbeshill.
“We did consult extensively on our proposals and made a number of changes following our consultations.
“Residents of Forbeshill can still access services 31, 10 and 11 from Victoria Road. We continue to monitor our services and look for opportunity to improve them.”