A bus firm has been urged by worried communities to step back from withdrawing “lifeline” routes in the region.
Stagecoach insist the raft of changes proposed for a number of Moray towns and villages is to improve the reliability of connections.
But fears have been raised the new timetables, which are subject to a consultation, will leave residents without essential links.
MSPs Richard Lochhead and Douglas Ross have written an urgent letter to the head of the transport giant urging them to pull out all the stops to retain the number 36 between Forres and Kinloss.
Forres councillor Aaron McLean agreed the withdrawal of the route could be devastating for residents that rely on it.
He said: “As well as being an important link between Kinloss, Findhorn and Forres, the number 36 bus provides a town service within Forres and is a lifeline for many people.
“I know from a number of the people I’ve spoken to that withdrawing this service would cause serious difficulties for folk in town who use the bus to access the doctors surgery, as well as those in Kinloss and Findhorn who rely on the bus for their daily commute.”
In Elgin the 30 from New Elgin to Larch Court will be withdrawn entirely while the 31 to Bilbohall and Pinefield and 32 to Spynie Hospital will be removed and incorporated into other routes.
The 33 from Elgin to Lossiemouth will now be every 20 minutes but will no longer run from Lesmurdie Road to Newmill Road.
Mr Ross added: “I believe that any such consultation which takes place in the coming weeks must take on board all feedback before any decision is made. The feedback I have received to date makes it clear that the 36 service in particular must be retained. There are also issues with some of the reductions within Elgin.”
A public consultation event has been organised by Stagecoach in Elgin’s St Giles Centre on Tuesday from 9am to 5pm.
The firm’s managing director for North Scotland, Mark Whitelocks, said: “We offer a comprehensive network within Aberdeenshire and Moray and our proposals for May 1 come on the back of work we have been doing recently to look at opportunities to improve our reliability in the face of growing congestion, taking into account feedback that we have had on our current services from our customers as well as analysis on the use that our current services have.”
