Vital Peeblesshire bus service set to be saved

Protesters took to the streets in Peeblesshire last summer to voice their anger at news the 101/102 service from Edinburgh to Dumfries was to be axed.

The service is jointly funded by Scottish Borders Council, SWestrans and Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT) and has been run by Stagecoach at a cost of £272,000-a-year.

The bus provides a direct link for communities in Tweeddale West into Edinburgh and Dumfries.

The route also serves local communities in Dumfries and Galloway, Clydesdale and Midlothian as it travels along the A702, providing a link into employment, education, health and leisure for residents along the length of the route.

Its future was placed in jeopardy when Stagecoach submitted a quote of £507,940 to renew the contract – an 86.4 per cent increase that was deemed “unaffordable”.

But when members of Scottish Borders Council meet on Thursday, February 16, they will be recommended to endorse a new three-year subsidised contract for Lockerbie-based Houston’s Coaches to run the service at the cost of £385,000 per annum, together with an optional two-year extension.

If agreed it will mean that SBC’s contribution to the cost of running the service will rise dramatically – from £35,000 per annum to £128,333.33.

The new contract would commence on April 1, 2023.