MacKenzie A (Alan) Vietoria 19 August 2013 14:43 f Bus Bill Members’ Bill re bus routes and fares. To Whom It May Concern, Iread with great interest details of MSP lain Grays' Members! ith regards to bus routes and fares, in the August 15 edition of the Falkirk Herald. ‘As someone who Is affected by the recent cancellation of the NHS Forth Valley H3/H4/H4A bus service, | strongly support a revision of bus services across the district. tn the aforementioned article, MSP Gray calls for the views of people who use local buses in order to devise his bill and | would like to illustrate how the cancellation of bus routes throughout the Falkirk area have negatively affected my both husband and |. Since moving to Grangemouth in 2010, | originally had to get 2 buses to my work at Larbert Library in Stenhousemuir - the 3/4/4A to Newmarket Street, Falkirk and then the 10/11/12 service to Stenhousemuir. As you can imagine, this was rather expensive and took me over an hour to get to work (this is of course assuming the buses were running on schedule - something which doesn't often happen!}. The arrival of the H3/H4/H4a service was hugely beneficial to me - my travel costs halved due to only having to catch one bus and it only took me 20 minutes to get to work. The buses were also far superior to anything First offer. Clean, quiet and with courteous and professional bus drivers, the EM Horsburgh buses were a pleasure to use and the service shall be sadly missed. As a result of their cancellation, | shall now have to use First buses 19 service, The nearest stop tomy home will be at Newlands Road - a 5 minute walk - however, this bus only travels to Larbert Cross and due to this, | will now have to walk 20 minutes to work, At this moment this is mildly inconvenient, however I do worry that in winter time this could potentially be a hazardous journey due to bad weather conditions and busy roads etc. The cancellation of First Bus services has also affected my husband, with the 67 service being cancelled in November 2012 - due to it not being “commercially viable". Since then, my husband has to walk 25 minutes to the nearest bus stop and back everyday in order to catch the 5 service to Bo'ness bus station. Again, at the moment this is inconvenient but in hazardous weather this walk could potentially be dangerous. 'have contacted First Bus several times since the cancellation of the Forth Valley services were announced, inquiring about a direct route from Falkirk to Stenhousemuir, The latest response I received, dated 14 August, states that they "have no plans to introduce a direct service between Grangemouth and Stenhousemuir* despite there being a demand for this, both from myself and fellow bus passengers who | have discussed this matter with. tt appears to me.as if the only customers they value are ones travelling directly to the hospital. They do not appear to consider those who may wish to travel to doctors surgeries, nurseries and the shopping centre In Stenhousemuir both for work and personal circumstances. | feel the return of the 67 service would be of a huge benefit to the local community. These buses travelled from Bo'ness to Forth Valley Royal Hospital covering many areas within the district - including Grangemouth and Stenhousemuir. As the only competing service has now been withdrawn, surely this 1service would now be - in First Buses own words - “commercially viable"? 1 also note within the aforementioned article that First Scotland East “insists the 'new look’ network has improved things for the majority of passengers". | would very much like First to provide evidence of this, as every person | know who uses the buses within the Falkirk area - family members, work colleagues and neighbours included - have been negatively affected, The services - or lack of - that First now provide appear to be having a detrimental effect on the local community. Thank you for your time and | look forward to hearing more about the Members' Bill Yours, Victoria Pearson.