Bus services to be maintained for evening and night-time runs whilst review is undertaken

A recommendation for evening bus services to remain unchanged until the end of June is set to be consider this week by councillors on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s Transportation and Infrastructure committee.

A report going to councillors states that the proposed period will be used to complete a review and report back on passenger usage of the services and of new ‘ticketing options’, and will include current services to the Broad Bay and West Side areas of the Isle of Lewis.

The Comhairle’s report states that a review of the current Community Transport provision will consider opportunities ‘to provide sustainable solutions for evening transport and other community transport needs that are not readily accommodated by public bus services’, but, the report states, ‘a Community Transport solution for evening bus services will not be available before the end of the current evening bus services contract’.

Passenger numbers on the evening and night-time services are described in the report as being ‘extremely low’ while the cost per-passenger of the services being described as ‘extremely expensive’.

Figures in the report suggest that in the Broad Bay Area, based on average passenger numbers, the service costs £11.75 per passenger to provide, whilst services to Uig and Bernera currently cost more than £60 per passenger to provide, with fares ranging from just over £2 per trip to £5.30 on the Uig run.

But, the reports concludes that ‘there is a need to take account of the impact the withdrawal of these service would have on low paid shift workers who might not have access to an alternative means of transport’.

The report states that fares in the authoirty area are the lowest in Scotland, and the Comhairle is now set to examine options for discount fares for regular users to increase passenger numbers.

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