A north-east woman is trying to help her community overcome daily bus cancellations – by getting up at 4am to check them.
Stagecoach’s X7, which takes the A92 coastal road from Dundee to Aberdeen, has been plagued by cancellations due to staff shortages.
The cancellations are shared on Twitter at about 3am – but many locals do not use them, so find themselves stranded at the roadside waiting for a bus that never shows.
Now Michelle Fletcher has decided to help by getting up at 4am every day to check the cancellations and share them more widely on Facebook.
She has also launched a car pool to help those who find themselves stranded, whether that be elderly residents or teenagers – with two recently left unable to get home at 10pm.
The X7 is due to run every hour, linking towns such as Arbroath, Montrose, St Cyrus, Inverbervie and Stonehaven. But since the new timetable was launched last month, services have been repeatedly cancelled – most often in the morning.
Mrs Fletcher, who has lived in Ferryden, near Montrose since 1999, said the service was an “absolute travesty”.
She said that 3am notifications about a bus cancellation are no good to those relying on the service to get them to work first thing.
‘I feel obliged to do this’
Mrs Fletcher now gets up at 4am to check the cancellations and share them more widely.
She said: “I have been getting up at that time in the morning to share the cancellations on Facebook.
“I only got two hours of sleep the other night as (it is) hard to get back to sleep again.
“I feel obliged to do this because not everybody’s on Twitter but this has been going on for days.”
Due to staff shortages the following will not operate 19/10
05:45 X7Arbroath-Aberdeen
08:00 X7 Aberdeen-Arbroath
10:57 X7 Arbroath-Aberdeen
13:05 X7 Aberdeen-Arbroath— Stagecoach East Scotland (@StagecoachEScot) October 19, 2022
Teenage girls left stranded in the dark
Despite Mrs Fletcher’s best efforts, many people are still unaware their bus has been cancelled.
Michelle Faith’s 15-year-old daughter was left waiting two hours for a bus from Montrose to Bervie after two in a row failed to show up – despite being on the electronic timetable at the bus stop.
Her daughter’s friends were also left stranded after the 10pm and 11pm buses never showed – causing the parents to come and collect them.
Mrs Faith said: “It’s a scary thought.
“You take it for granted the bus will be picking them up so as a parent you get on with your evening.
“What if parents have had a glass of wine and can’t pick them up? What are you supposed to do?”
Car pool Facebook group launched
To help deal with the inconsistent service, Mrs Fletcher has launched a car pool Facebook group for the Ferryden area.
She says she has had people contact her about the elderly people who have been impacted the most by the cancellations.
She said: “It’s causing a lot of heartache. I’ve been really quite emotional about the whole thing.
“It really has been partly about community spirit, which is really what I’m all about.
“I’m not going to stop posting these tweets but I don’t understand why they’re not posting them until so late.
Local politicians give their support
Local politicians in the area have written to Stagecoach and both Aberdeenshire and Angus councils to seek a solution.
Ferryden and Craig Community Council said: “We are acutely aware of the disruption being caused to the local bus services by the staff shortages at Stagecoach.
“There has been considerable inconvenience and stress being caused to our community by this disruption.”
What does Stagecoach say?
A spokeswoman for Stagecoach East Scotland said: “We understand that cancellations can be frustrating to our customers who need to travel, and we are sorry for the disruption that some customers are currently experiencing.
“However, due to the nationwide driver shortage and other factors outwith our control, there may be instances where services are unfortunately cancelled or delayed.
“In the event that a service has to be cancelled, we always look to provide as much notice as we possibly can to enable people to make alternative arrangements.
“Customers can contact our customer service team about refunds for tickets they were unable to use due to service cancellation as per the ticket terms and conditions.”
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