Margaret McCulloch MSP has appealed for cross-party support for a motion she has submitted to the Scottish Parliament in which she calls for the under-threat 31 bus service in East Kilbride to be protected and bus regulation to be brought forward to protect lifeline services.

Margaret McCulloch MSP said:

“I am very clear that the 31 bus service is a lifeline to many people in East Kilbride and an important link to Glasgow that has a real economic benefit to the town and a real social benefit to our communities. Perhaps if it was better used then First would think the route was more attractive and worth protecting, but regardless of how much it brings in for the company, it is very important to the local people who use the service.

“Bus services in East Kilbride have been cut back and curtailed for too long. At some point we have to come together and say enough is enough – and if the bus companies don’t listen then we need laws and regulation that will make them listen.

“I know that across communities and across parties there is a real concern that the withdrawal of the 31 bus would isolate people in some parts of East Kilbride who do not have access to a car and might not have other means of transport. I know too that local councillors are making the case for this service to be retained, and that Councillor Alan Scott held a hugely well attended meeting in Stewartfield on this very subject only a few weeks ago.

“I support those local councillors who are campaigning for better buses locally and all their efforts but the unanimous view that service levels have to be retained did not protect the 31 bus from the last round of service reductions. We need a much more ambitious consensus. I hope that a unanimous view that stronger rules for operators, which put passengers and public service before profits, will emerge and that my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament will give my Motion cross-party support.”