Members of the Environment and Housing Committee have approved plans to monitor upgrades to First Midland Bluebird’s C48 service after a public petition raised a string of concerns.
The petition first came before the council committee in February and described the C48 as a service that provides essential transport through Kinbuck, Dunblane, Stirling and Bannockburn, but also has a number of issues.
The document highlighted problems with the service timetable and reliability, driver attitude and knowledge, ticket machines and the general poor condition of the vehicle.
At last week’s committee meeting, members discussed the need to take immediate action to improve the C48’s operating procedures and agreed to track its progress in the coming weeks.
The committee was informed that a replacement bus and ticket machine is already in place and a new time table is with the Traffic Commissioner with approval scheduled for 30 April.
One driver has been removed from the service while staff are also now undergoing training in customer services, with by-weekly meetings arranged between First Midland and Council officers to ensure ongoing contract management.
Environment and Housing committee convenor, Councillor Jim Thomson said: “I am pleased to hear the council’s response to these public concerns has been swift and direct.
“This is a financially backed service for us and it is crucial for connectivity between some of our rural communities and the centre of Stirling, as well as local services such as schools and shops in Kinbuck.
“It is important that the council not only listens to the concerns of the public regarding issues like these but responds to them quickly and I believe we’ve done that here.
“We will now monitor the service going forward through our council officers and will review the situation’s progress when we get feedback at the next meeting of the committee.”
Councillor Thomson’s motion to leave the petition open for feedback and progress reports was agreed and the service improvements will be reviewed at the next meeting of the committee on 7 June.