Latest news with #busservices
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Dumfries and Galloway Council seeks 'best outcome' for buses
The new leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council (DGC) has said the local authority is "working hard" to safeguard the future of bus services in the comes after Stagecoach announced it would end almost all of its services because they were "no longer commercially viable".Stephen Thompson, who took over as council leader on Monday, said they were seeking the "best possible outcomes for our communities".He promised to give a "comprehensive update" via the council website early next week. Stagecoach has said that during the tender process to run new services from August, it found a liability clause that was "far in excess of the value of the contracts".It has told DGC that it would drop all but two of its services in the council has not confirmed if another operator will take over the routes and said negotiations over the tender process were "ongoing and confidential".The situation has led to concern from communities that services could be lost. 'Completely isolated' BBC news website reader Andrew Martin said the impact of losing the service from Dumfries to Stranraer was "unthinkable"."There are no alternative bus services on the A75 to Twynholm, Gatehouse, Creetown, Newton Stewart and beyond to Stranraer," he said."The council or one of the bus companies will have to step in."If this service is withdrawn, my options to travel west of Kirkcudbright will be taken away - and anyone who does not drive a car and lives along the route will be completely isolated."The Unite union has also sought an urgent meeting to discuss the impact on staff at depots in Dumfries and Stranraer. Mr Thompson said he understood the concerns of people living in the region and wanted to reassure them that the council was working with transport body SWestrans for the best outcome."We are currently engaged in a complex but crucial live tender process to reprocure both home-to-school transport and the subsidised local bus network," he said."This is a significant undertaking, designed to provide stability for operators and, most importantly, reliable, long-term connections for our residents from August 2025."He said that although the procedure must remain confidential, he wanted to be "absolutely clear" that they were prioritising the continuation of these essential services. 'Intricate discussions' "We are committed to ensuring all home-to-school transport is in place for the new academic year, and our council and SWestrans are committed to providing a well-connected local bus network," he said."I appreciate everyone's patience as we navigate these intricate discussions."I can confirm that the council will be in a position to provide a comprehensive update on the situation on the morning of Monday 23 June, through the latest news section of the council website."I would urge members of the public to please look out for this important announcement."
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Stagecoach to axe bus services across Dumfries and Galloway
Stagecoach has announced it will end almost all of its bus services in Dumfries and Galloway because they are "no longer commercially viable".The bus firm said that during the tender process to run new services from August it had found a liability clause that was "far in excess of the value of the contracts".It has told Dumfries and Galloway Council (DGC) that it would drop all but two of its services in the council has not confirmed if another operator will take over the routes. It said negotiations over the tender process were "ongoing and confidential". Stagecoach said current contracts with the council and transport partnership SWestrans would expire on 6 August."We're unfortunately unable to agree to a contract on these disproportionate terms," it said."We've been working with the council and SWestrans to find a solution to the procurement ask, but unfortunately the liability levels required by the council have made this impossible."As a result, our tender submissions have been disqualified as non-compliant." Stagecoach said it had given 70-day notice in May to deregister its services apart from the X74 Dumfries to Glasgow also said its 79 service from Dumfries to Carlisle would continue to firm said it was committed to ensuring communities in the region could "remain connected" and it was working closely with affected staff at its Dumfries and Stranraer depots. 'Protect public interest' DGC said SWestrans was responsible for delivery of the local bus network, while the home-to-school transport network was the council's said it took its statutory duties "very seriously" and was prioritising school transport routes.A spokesperson added: "As part of the tender process, the council and SWestrans need to ensure that we have bus operators that meet minimum requirements on a range of industry-standard terms and conditions."This is in order to protect the public interest."DGC and SWestrans continue to work through a tender process that has supporting and connecting the communities of Dumfries and Galloway firmly at its heart."
BBC News
10-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Audit finds weaknesses in Dumfries and Galloway bus cash controls
An audit of cash handling on council bus services in south west Scotland has flagged up a string of found there was a "significant risk of loss or undetected error" in half of the eight objectives it looked at in Dumfries and local authority runs 18 bus routes across the region - one out of Stranraer, six out of Castle Douglas and 11 out of Dumfries.A report said five action points highlighted by the audit - including banking bus service income at least once a week - had now been implemented. The internal audit by Dumfries and Galloway Council aimed to confirm that cash income from the routes was being accounted for and banked in accordance with financial also sought assurances that cash was being held securely and banked it discovered weaknesses in controls over the income and found that cash from two depots - Abercromby in Castle Douglas and Cargen Towers in Dumfries - had not been banked for several the other concerns it highlighted were:No weekly check to ensure cash was being handed inNo fares being charged on one route in Stranraer as the driver did not have a licence to do soNo written records of cash being passed from one staff member to anotherIt recommended five different action points in order to tackle the issues included cash being held securely and under the responsibility of a single council report said all the measures highlighted had now been put in place.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
FirstGroup shares soar on full-year profit beat, eyes UK transport opportunities
June 10 (Reuters) - British public transport operator FirstGroup (FGP.L), opens new tab reported full-year profit ahead of market expectations on Tuesday, helped by strong performance of its bus division and recent acquisitions. Shares in the London-listed company, which carries more than a million passengers daily on its buses and trains, rose more than 6% after it also announced an additional share buyback of 50 million pounds and raised dividend by 18% to 6.5 pence a share. Britain, as part of a new spending review, pledged 15.6 billion pounds ($21.04 billion) for transport projects targeting cities outside London, which have long been underfunded. "We intend to build up a good, strong bid team and we intend to participate in the opportunities as and when they come to market," CEO Graham Sutherland told Reuters, adding that he expects further details on the government's spending plans on Wednesday. FirstGroup has been expanding its bus network across Britain, including by entering the London market earlier this year with its acquisition of RATP London. Its First Bus service, which caters to about a fifth of the UK population, reported revenue of 1.08 billion pounds for the year ended March 29, ahead of expectations of 1.05 billion pounds, according to a company-compiled consensus. The company also acquired track access for two open access services between London Euston and Stirling and between London Paddington and South Wales, last year. FirstGroup was looking at further acquisitions this year, Sutherland said. Sutherland expects growth in buses and its open access rail companies such as Hull trains and Lumo. This is likely to counter the hit from nationalization of some of its railway projects. Nationalisation of its South Western Railway unit, which happened in May, will hit the company's fiscal 2026 revenue, Sutherland said. The unit contributed about 1.18 billion pounds in revenue in fiscal 2025. The Aberdeen-based company posted adjusted earnings per share of 19.3 pence for the year, ahead of company-compiled consensus of 18.9 pence. ($1 = 0.7414 pounds)
CNA
08-06-2025
- Politics
- CNA
2 new bus services in Tengah and Brickland by year-end, 6 more in 2026: Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow
SINGAPORE: Eight new bus services will be introduced in Tengah and Brickland by the end of next year to help ease residents' connectivity woes, said Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow on Sunday (Jun 8). Complaints on the lack of amenities and transport options have arisen among early residents of Tengah, a new HDB town located in the west of Singapore. The first two bus services will be rolled out by the end of this year. Service 872, which will start from Tengah Bus Interchange and serve areas like Tengah Boulevard, Plantation Crescent, Bukit Batok, Jurong Town Hall and Chinese Garden MRT, is slated to start on Aug 10. The other service will start from Brickland and pass through Bukit Panjang and Jurong East MRT stations. More details will be announced at the start of the fourth quarter. By the end of next year, there will be two express services, one a city direct service from Brickland, and the other is a privately operated bus route from Brickland to the One-North area. There will also be four express feeder services by the end of 2026, which will take residents from their homes to nearby MRT stations, such as Beauty World, Bukit Gombak, Bukit Batok and Jurong East MRT stations. Mr Siow was at a People's Association family event at Tengah Community Club, where he was speaking to the media for the first time since assuming the transport minister role on May 23. He took over the position from Mr Chee Hong Tat, who is now the Minister for National Development. Mr Siow, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Brickland ward that is part of Tengah, touched on some issues faced by Tengah residents at Sunday's event. Mr Siow said in a speech to residents at the community club that there are four "C"s that the government hopes to address: not enough coffee shops, not enough childcare centres, not enough transport connectivity and concerns with the centralised cooling system in their HDB units. He said that the government is 'very focused' on tackling these issues, noting that a multi-agency committee has been set up to support those moving into new Build-to-Order (BTO) flats. He said that the chairman of the committee is Senior Minister of State Sun Xue Ling, who has appointments in both Ministry for National Development and the Ministry of Transport (MOT). 'So just be a little bit patient, because I know we are doing these things as residents are moving in, and it will become better, very, very soon,' he said. The Tengah Bus Interchange opened on Jul 21 last year. With it, a new service 871 was introduced to connect Tengah to Bukit Batok West, Bukit Gombak and Beauty World. Two existing bus services, 992 and 870, were also extended to better serve Tengah residents. WHY PRIVATE BUS SERVICE TO ONE-NORTH? On why a private bus service instead of a public one is being planned to take residents of Tengah to the One-North area, Mr Siow said that it is among the options that the government considers when looking to augment the bus framework. 'We try not to do it extensively and only really for niche routes, because when we run too many private routes, we run the risk of cannibalising demand for the public bus network,' he said. He said that there are certain routes with enough demand that a private operator is prepared to take up but public transport operators are 'not quite ready to do yet'. 'We can, in the short term, introduce some of these routes (and) if they work well, in the longer term, we can always consider incorporating them into the public bus network,' he said. As to why One-North, Mr Siow said that there is a demand from Brickland residents, as many of them work there. 'And so that's how we decided to trial and see,' he said. CUTTING DOWN PUBLIC TRANSPORT TRAVEL TIME There are also longer-term aims for the travel time to be narrowed between taking private and public transport, particularly for HDB estates 'a little bit further away from the city', said Mr Siow. He said that while trains can get people to the city quickly, getting to the train stations can be time-consuming for many of these residents. 'If we can try to do that a little bit better, improving the walkability of the town, improving the density of the bus network, we should be able to bring the journey times down and make public transport more competitive with private transport,' he said. He said that currently, the travel time from Tengah to the city is two to three times longer by public transport than it is for private transport, and he aims to cut it down to one to two times longer. 'And we will be doing that all across Singapore at the estates that are further away from the city, that is my priority,' he said. FIRST THOUGHTS ON NEW JOB Asked about how he is settling into his new role as acting transport minister, Mr Siow said that he is no stranger to the transport portfolio. 'I'm very excited, I've hit the ground running and we are working on how to get LTA's (the Land Transport Authority's) plans on track (and) continue to do the things we have been doing,' he said. Mr Siow held key appointments at the MOT, among others. 'Going back to the ministry has been very positive for me,' he said. 'I've been very happy to be able to reconnect with old colleagues, but also with the issues that I used to work on.' He said he had worked on the Jurong Region Line with the ministry, which is planned to operate through Tengah by 2028. 'When I was an officer at MOT 10 years back, it was a piece of paper, and now it's coming close to reality,' he said. 'These are the things that a lot of us at MOT and LTA are very inspired by, because we do things that matter to Singaporeans, and these are the tangible products of our work.'
