The closure of Cowdenbeath depot is disappointing and I know the unions have tried hard to negotiate alternatives that would have seen the depot remain open. Stagecoach are now making changes to many routes across Fife which they describe as minimal but it is not clear what the impact will be and this will need to be gaged over time.
I am due to meet with management of Stagecoach in the next month and will want to understand better the companies reasoning behind the many changes to services they are making. Whilst Stagecoach have over a period of time significantly increased the numbers of service running in and out of Fife, this cannot be at the cost of local services and we need to ensure that there is joined up services accessing the major transport hubs such as Halbeath.
On a positive note, I am pleased that the company is working with major employers to improve transport links for workers getting to and from work and I am pushing Fife Council and Stagecoach to do more to see where there are gaps that act as a barrier for people accessing employment. I would want to thank all the people who have worked out of Cowdenbeath providing local bus services over the years, the closure announcement although expected is nevertheless disappointing and we must now be vigilant in protecting local bus services in local communities”.
Bus service changes
Service 1/1A: Dunfermline – Duloch Park – Rosyth – Ferrytoll P&R – North Queensferry
There will be some changes to this service, primarily to improve peak time links to/from Ferrytoll P&R. We have also been able to accommodate requests for better journeys to suit commuters who work at Sky, with a morning peak journey from Dunfermline to Pitreavie for 0819, and the 2235 1A journey from North Queensferry to Dunfermline now running 15 minutes later (passing Sky at 2309) to suit people finishing work at 2300.
Service 2/2A: Halbeath P&R – Duloch Park – Rosyth – Ferrytoll P&R
There will be some timetable changes to this service during Monday to Friday peak periods, and the service will now use Stance 2 at Halbeath Park & Ride instead of Stance 5. There are no changes to the main daytime service.
Service 3/3A: Townhill – Dunfermline – Abbeyview – Duloch Park – Fife Leisure Park/Halbeath P&R
On Mon to Fri the 1446 Townhill to Abbeyview journey will be extended to Halbeath P&R and on Mon to Sat the 1831 Townhill to Dunfermline bus station journey will be extended to Duloch Park. The hourly evening and Sunday journeys operating on behalf of Fife Council will now run between Dunfermline bus station and Fife Leisure Park, with journeys towards the bus station running 10 minutes earlier than at present. This service will now use Stance 2 at Halbeath Park & Ride instead of Stance 5.
Service 4/4A/4B/4C: Duloch Park – Dunfermline – Oakley – Blairhall
There will be some minor changes to the evening and Sunday timetable, operating on behalf of Fife Council, with most journeys between Blairhall and Dunfermline bus station now operating across town (as service 3) to provide direct links to/from Fife Leisure Park. There are no changes to the main Mon to Sat daytime service.
Service 5/5A: Dunfermline – Garvock Bank – Abbeyview circular
On Sunday mornings the 0910 service 5A journey from Hospital Hill will be revised to commence from Dunfermline bus station at 0900.
Service 6: Steelend – Dunfermline – Limekilns – Crombie
A revised timetable will be introduced incorporating changes to the morning and afternoon peak periods. The evening and Sunday timetable operating on behalf of Fife Council will be revised and will be operated by First Scotland East, as service F6.
Service 7/7A: Dunfermline – Dalgety Bay – Burntisland – Kirkcaldy – Leven
There will be some timetable changes around morning and afternoon school start and finish times, including some new journeys to increase the number of journeys in the late afternoon. In addition a revised evening and Sunday timetable will be introduced resulting in journeys running around 15 minutes later than at present.
Service 7B/7C: Kirkcaldy – Leven
On weekdays, most journeys after 1600 will be retimed to run up to 15 minutes later than at present. The evening and Sunday journeys will also run around 15 minutes later than at present.
Service 8/8A: Dunfermline – High Valleyfield – Kincardine – Alloa – Stirling
On Monday to Friday the 0906 journey from High Valleyfield to Dunfermline will run 5 minutes earlier. Service 8A journeys at 2255 from Alloa to Dunfermline Monday to Saturday, and at 0822 Dunfermline to Alloa Sunday only, will be withdrawn.
Service 9: Kelty – QMH – Dunfermline – High Valleyfield
There will be some minor retiming to help improve reliability, with most journeys running a few minutes earlier than at present.
Service 10/11: Parkneuk / Izatt Avenue – Dunfermline – Queen Margaret Hospital circular
Due to low passenger numbers these services will be withdrawn. However revised service 81 will provide an alternative to service 10 between Parkneuk and Queen Margaret Hospital, and revised service 87 will now provide an alternative to service 11 between Dunfermline bus station and Izatt Avenue.
Service 17/17A/17B: Halbeath P&R – Crossgates – Cowdenbeath – Kelty
A revised timetable will be introduced on service 17 to complement service 18 and provide buses between Kelty and Cowdenbeath approximately every 30 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytime. Fife Council tendered services 17A and 17B will no longer be operated by Stagecoach and will transfer to Bay Travel.
Service 18: Kelty – Cowdenbeath – Kirkcaldy
There will be some alterations to the timetable primarily affecting journeys at the morning and afternoon peak periods. The late evening journey at 2207 from Kirkcaldy will be extended from Cowdenbeath and now continue to Kelty.
Service 19/19A: Rosyth – Dunfermline – Cowdenbeath – Ballingry
There will be some alterations to the timetable particularly affecting early morning journeys, early evening journeys and late evening journeys. There are no changes to the main daytime timetable.
Service 20A: Lochgelly – Ballingry
This Fife Council tendered service will no longer be operated by Stagecoach and will transfer to Bay Travel.
Service 28: Dunfermline – Saline – High Valleyfield – Falkirk
The 2012 Queen Margaret Hospital to Kincardine journey will run 2 minutes later. The 2127 Kincardine to Dunfermline journey will run 3 minutes later.
Service 33/33A: Kirkcaldy – Lochgelly – Cowdenbeath – QMH – Dunfermline
Due to the growing popularity of Halbeath P&R and a number of requests from customers, the route of this service will be revised to operate via Halbeath Park & Ride to improve connections to/from Queen Margaret Hospital. In order to achieve this, the route will also be revised to run direct between Cowdenbeath Broad Street and Crossgates. Hill of Beath will continue to be served by the frequent 19/19A service. There will also be some minor changes to the timetable, incorporating more journeys running to/from Dunfermline bus station in the early morning and early evening.
Service 34/34A: Kirkcaldy – Lochgelly – Ballingry
The 0800 Cardenden to Lochgelly school holidays only journey will be withdrawn. The 1452 Ballingry to Kirkcaldy journey will run 10 minutes earlier and will now also operate on schooldays, although it will run non-stop between Chapel Level retail park and Bennochy Bridge on schooldays. The journeys between the Cardenden area and Lochgelly High School will no longer run as service 34.
Service 39B: Glenrothes (Queensway) – Glenrothes Bus Station – Newcastle
The 1548 bus station to Newcastle journey will be revised to operate on school holidays only.
Service 51: Dunfermline – Ferrytoll – Kirkliston – Livingston
This service currently operating on weekends only will be significantly enhanced to provide a full daytime service, 7 days a week, offering new commuting and leisure travel opportunities between Dunfermline, Ferrytoll P&R and Livingston throughout the week. The Saturday timetable will be improved to include additional journeys in the morning and evening providing new journey opportunities between Dunfermline and Livingston at these times. There will be no change to the Sunday timetable.
Service 56/56A/56B: Halbeath P&R – Kelty – Kinross – Bridge of Earn – Perth
The two weekday journeys currently starting at Cowdenbeath bus depot will be amended to commence from Cowdenbeath High Street instead. The 1405 Mon to Fri journey from Perth will no longer require through passengers to change buses at Kintillo, with subsequent timings from Kintillo to Kelty now 2 minutes earlier as a result. Saturday journeys currently starting and finishing at Cowdenbeath bus depot will operate to and from Halbeath Park & Ride. The 2210 Monday to Saturday journey from Perth will be revised to operate to Halbeath Park & Ride.
Service 81: Parkneuk – Dunfermline – QM Hospital – Cowdenbeath – Lochgelly – Glenrothes
The route of this service will be extended to serve Dunfermline bus station and Parkneuk via Alderston Drive and Robertson Road, providing an alternative to withdrawn services 10/11. The route between Kingseat and Queen Margaret Hospital will also be revised to operate via Kingseat Road and Halbeath Road. Sunday journeys will continue to operate direct between Kingseat and Queen Margaret Hospital only, and these direct journeys will be numbered 81A.
Service 83: Dalgety Bay – Duloch Park – Fife Leisure Park – QM Hospital – Townhill – Dunfermline
On Monday to Saturday the 1844 journey from Dalgety Bay will now run 15 minutes later and also commence from Inverkeithing rail station. On Sundays a new journey will operate at 0941 from Townhill to Dunfermline.
Service 87: Dunfermline – Duloch Park – Dalgety Bay – North Queensferry
The route of this service will be revised, with most journeys now serving Izatt Avenue, and the timetable will therefore be revised to take account of this route change.
Service 88: Rosyth Europarc – Inverkeithing circular
There will be some amendments to the timetable in the middle of the afternoon, particularly on schooldays.
Service 89/89A: Crossford – Dunfermline – Duloch Park – North Queensferry
This Fife Council tendered service will no longer be operated by Stagecoach and will be operated by Bay Travel.
Service 107 & 150: Aberhill & Methilhill – Diageo
To offer workers additional time to catch these buses, the afternoon journeys on both services will be retimed to leave Diageo five minutes later, at 1655 on Monday to Thursday and at 1305 on Friday (service 107 only).
Service 173: Wellwood – Rosyth Dockyard
This service will be extended to serve the bus stops at the former Wellwood Primary School. The 1759 journey from Wellwood to Dunfermline will be withdrawn.
Service K4: Kirkcaldy – Dunnikier Estate
On weekdays the 1448 journey from the bus station will be revised to run 5 minutes earlier, and the timetable will also be revised between 1700 and 1830, with buses now departing from the bus station at 1713, 1743 and 1807.
Service K7: Kirkcaldy – Dysart – Boreland circular
The 1710 journey from Kirkcaldy bus station will be withdrawn, and the 1740 journey from the bus station will be revised to run 10 minutes earlier.
Service X4: Glenrothes – Markinch – Leven
The 2340 Leven to Glenrothes journey will be withdrawn. A new 2350 Glenrothes to Leven journey will be introduced.
Service X24: St Andrews – Glenrothes – Halbeath P&R – Dunfermline – Kincardine – Glasgow
Service X26/X27: Leven – Kirkcaldy – Halbeath P&R – Dunfermline – Kincardine – Glasgow
A number of timetable amendments will be introduced mainly affected early morning and evening journeys, which will incorporate a number of new journeys from Leven/Glenrothes towards Dunfermline/Glasgow in the early morning, but the withdrawal of some late evening journeys from Glenrothes to Dunfermline. The last journey to/from Glasgow will also be an hour later on Mondays to Saturdays, resulting in a new 2305 journey from Glasgow to Glenrothes.
Service X60: St Andrews – Anstruther – Leven – Kirkcaldy – Ferrytoll P&R – Edinburgh
Following customer requests for later commuter trips, the 1640 and 1740 Edinburgh to Leven journeys will be extended to operate through to Elie, Ansturther and Cellardyke on Monday to Friday.
