Feedback encouraged for Annan town service bus

MORE funding avenues are being explored to increase the provision of the Annan Town Service bus.

Dumfriesshire charity Annandale Community Transport Service (ACTS) took over the route earlier this month after Stagecoach stepped away.

With no subsidy available ACTS had to secure funding, and this has led to the timetable being reduced.

However, the charity say avenues are being explored in a bid to make the service operational on six days and for longer hours.

Annandale South councillor George Jamieson said: “It’s still ongoing, and that’s the best they can do at the moment. They are going to look at uptake and all the rest of it.

“I will be speaking to them, because it’s about more than just numbers.”

He added: “This service is getting folk out of their houses, they’re then coming to town and spending money.

“I believe you have to strike that balance between community wellbeing and cost.”

Community council chairman Allan Weild said: “I have had one or two complaints. It doesn’t stop at Standalane any more and it turns at Tesco. Could it not just go up and turn at Annan Hospital?”

ACTS manager Lisa Hogg explained how the service has been operating since the charity started running the route.

She said: “At ACTS we want to help combat social and rural isolation and know how important that these bus services are in the local area.

“We were informed that Annan would be losing their Town Service and we were already working with Swestrans to see how we could help the residents in Moffat who had lost their early morning run from Moffat to Dumfries a number of months ago. We thought the two could work together – and it seems to be doing just that!”

Lisa added: “There was no subsidy from the council available, so we have taken both these routes on commercially.

“We are a charity, and we do not make a profit on these journeys and as there was no subsidy available we have had to secure funding.

“ACTS is supported by a number of amazingly dedicated volunteers that undertake the numerous journeys to health and social appointments everyday, however, we believed the commitment was too much to deliver service routes using our volunteers, so we knew we would need to employ a driver to help with this service. We have been successful in securing funding to employ a driver.”

Lisa added that there had been lots of positive feedback. And she encouraged people to continue giving their views on the route and its stops.

She said: “We added in an extra stop at Tesco after taking on board feedback and that seems to have been a positive change.

“The people we have spoken to in Annan have been really grateful for us taking these routes on. We know it is currently limited to mornings and some local residents would have preferred a later service, however, we fully believe it is better to have a limited service than no service at all in the area.

“We are exploring more funding avenues with the potential to increase to six days a week and longer hours if successful.”

Feedback can be emailed to [email protected]