A community who battled to save their local bus service have struck a compromise with council officials.
Residents of Turriff were furious at Aberdeenshire Council’s plans to replace the town service with a dial-a-bus – meaning they would have to book a seat in advance.
The authority announced in October that the A2B service would be introduced to replace the Stagecoach Bluebird town and circular route as part of an EU-funded project to balance rural transport needs with reducing emissions.
But residents argued they would miss the flexibility of being able to hop on the town bus after doing shopping or meeting friends, and a petition with more than 400 signatures against the proposals was presented to council officers this week.
At a public meeting, nearly 100 residents turned out to discuss the changes with officers and local councillors.
Aberdeenshire Council passenger transport officer Marion Mackay presented an alternative proposal of keeping the town service Monday-Friday twice a day, with the A2B being available to book at other times.
She said: “We’re here to hear what you think about our suggestion to keep the route Monday to Friday twice a day so you can get to town and get back again following the existing route.
“It’s a compromise as we know people want to keep the timetable as is but we want to reduce the emissions and the service will be available to book for other times.”
But the idea was met with grumbles and tuts from the audience, with some attendees making further suggestions.
Turriff councillor Anne Stirling, who chaired the meeting, then suggested a further compromise – of extending the town service to six days a week twice daily.
She said: “If everyone is willing to accept this two circuits a day Monday to Saturday, and booking at other times we can trial that for six months then return if there are any problems.”
The proposal was approved, with the Monday-Saturday services running from 10.20am and 12.20pm starting at the end of March.
Regular town bus user Helen Blanchett said: “People don’t like change but we’ve got to try it and we’re not losing our service altogether.
“We’ll have to see how it goes – I’m not going to be stuck, I’ll just have to go at those two times or book it ahead.”
Marjory Chalmers, chairwoman of the Turriff Business Association, had been worried before the meeting that having no regular service would drive away customers.
Afterwards, she said: “Not everyone is able to walk and there’s a population of over 5,000 here so limiting the times will mean people will just have to use it then.
“Hopefully it won’t impact people too much, an afternoon service would have been good but we’ll see how it goes.”