Borders bus firm beginning journey back to normality

As the lockdown is eased, Borders Buses is looking to increase the frequency of its services and reintroduce routes, though it’s still encouraging only responsible travel.

The company operates buses on both sides of the border and as England is coming out of lockdown faster than Scotland, the return of services there has been more rapid.

Services south of the border this week returned to 100% capacity, three times as high as the current position here.

However, that figure of more than 30% is set to rise in the weeks ahead, said Sharon Morrison, communications director for West Coast Motors, parent company of Berwick-based Borders Buses.

Next Monday, the operator will be reintroducing journeys from the Borders into Edinburgh on the X62 Melrose-to-Edinburgh service via Peebles.

It will operate Monday to Saturday, departing from Galashiels transport interchange.

Meanwhile, in a bid to gauge customer opinion and bus usage, the company has launched a survey- available at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BBNewWorld

Sharon said: “Capacity is still below 25%. There has been an increase, but there are still not many people travelling, though you have to bear in mind that this time last week we were operating at only 30% of our services.

“This week, we are operating at 100% in England, so although there has been an increase in journeys, we are able to cope with that demand.

“On the Scottish side, we are now operating at roughly 30 to 40% of our operations.

“We plan to announce increased journeys on key services over the coming days.

“We are looking at the X62, our Peebles-to-Edinburgh service, which was basically curtailed. It was not going into Edinburgh or Midlothian. Now we are going to be extending that.”

There has been a big rise in passengers wearing masks this week, added Sharon.

“From Monday, when it became mandatory,we have seen a huge increase in passengers wearing facing coverings on the English leg of our services,” she said. “All but a very few were wearing them.

“At the same time, we have to be very mindful that not everyone can wear a face covering, and the message to both our customers and to our staff is not to judge anyone not wearing a face covering.

“From the outset, we have expected customers to wear face coverings in Scotland, so when it was made mandatory in England this week, for us it was no shift in what we were communicating.”

“We also have a robust system in place in terms of cleaning, personal protective equipment issued and hand sanitisers on buses.”

The firm has also updated its website, www.bordersbuses.co.uk, and now offers new technology enabling customers to check ahead how busy services are.