OAPs slam bus firm as route is changed

Nov 13 2008 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

A CHANGE in a long-established Hamilton bus route has infuriated pensioners.

Many Eddlewood OAPs used the 263 to get to shops and other services at Cadzow Bridge.

Now, however, the bus has been routed into Newlands Drive and through Silvertonhill to Johnstone Road and Hamilton town centre.

Old folk have been told to either use the new service and get a bus back up to Cadzow Bridge or walk to Strathaven Road and catch a bus from there.

First Bus, who operate the service, claim the change was one of a number introduced in October aimed at “giving passengers a better service”.

However, Hamilton councillors Brian McCaig and Joe Lowe have demanded that the company reinstate the axed service.

Eleanor Stewart, of Chapel Crescent, who has lived in Eddlewood for 40 years, was one of a delegation of almost 50 pensioners who raised the problem at councillor Lowe’s latest surgery.

The 62-year-old retired shop worker said passengers might have to consider a boycott of First Bus services if the old route was not restored.

“The new service by-passes Cadzow Bridge where you have the chemists, doctors, butchers, bakers,” she said.

“A lot of elderly people who go down to the shops every day relied on that service.

“There are others who used the bus to get to Our Lady and St Anne’s Chapel (Jack Street) each morning.

“The change will cause real inconvenience for many people, particularly the old folk who rely on the bus.”

Councillor McCaig has written to First Bus managing director Mark Savelli and asked him to look into the complaints.

The councillor added: “Some of these people are in their 80s and have been using this service for years.

“The bus that stops on the Strathaven Road is infrequent and doesn’t go into the Eddlewood housing scheme.

“These old folk now face a walk of between 10 minutes and a quarter of an hour, often in bad weather and at night, to get the bus on Strathaven Road. I will be telling First Bus that this whole thing has not been properly thought out.”

Councillor Lowe accused First Bus of “not doing their homework” before making the change.

“They didn’t take into account the fact that so many old folk use the bus to get to the doctor’s surgery at Cadzow Bridge,” he added.

A First Bus spokesman said: “We received a number of requests for a better service to the Silvertonhill area and were able to meet this by diverting the existing service from Eddlewood. The section of route on Low Waters Road that is no longer served by this service is still well served by existing service X1, 226 and 263, providing up to 13 buses per hour.

“Whilst the changes that we have made across the network have improved many customers’ services, where this is felt not to be the case we will certainly do our best to explore other ways of meeting customers’ travel needs.”

However, Mrs Stewart said the three alternative services suggested by First Bus were of no use to people living in and around Park’s View, Eddlewood, who travel regularly to Cadzow Bridge.