An Aberdeen woman has claimed rerouting by First Bus has cut her community off from the rest of the city.
Vicki Pawluk, 66, who lives near Aberdeen beach has expressed her concerns about the changes to route 13, which goes from Hillhead of Seaton to Scatterburn via Union Street.
She claims the changes have affected residents of Park Place, particularly the elderly and mums and their children, saying: “It has basically cut off going into town for all the people in the sheltered area.”
However, First Bus has stressed that bus connections remain a similar distance nearby following the re-routing.
Turning to taxis
The re-routing has affected Mrs Pawluk on a personal level, as she can’t walk very far and her husband is “highly disabled”.
To get into the city centre, or to attend medical appointments, she now has to take a taxi, saying she is not the only one having to do so.
She said: “I’ve spoken to a lot of people who’ve basically said that because they can’t walk, they have to take a taxi into town.
“Even taxi drivers are talking about it and people round here are too. It’s really just miserable for us as there’s no other bus to get into town.”
‘Isolated an entire community’
Mrs Pawluk claims that there was “no consultation at all” and First said that it would just be a temporary situation, before it became permanent.
“It was made without any consultation and without thinking about the sort of people that live in this area. It has cut us off from the world and isolated an entire community,” she added:
As well as this, she also claimed that she received no response from First Bus after e-mailing the Aberdeen firm.
‘The route does still operate very close to sheltered housing’
In response to Mrs Pawluk, a spokesman for First Bus said: “Our service 13 continues to serve Park Road, but the changes that came into play on July 3 did divert the service away from Park Street nearby.
“While Park Street is no longer served by service 13, the route does still operate very close to the sheltered housing complexes in the vicinity of Constitution Street by continuing to operate along Beach Boulevard.
“Additionally, there are bus stops located behind the sheltered housing at the corner of Wales Street that local residents can use to access the route.
“The walking distance between the complex and the Wales Street stops is the same as what was previously in place when residents had to walk from Constitution Street round onto Park Street.”
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