Bus Network Review
About
A bus network review was undertaken with Borders businesses and residents engaged to help shape the future of the bus network in the area.
The review followed a clear change in travel habits, both gradual and more significant following the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is vitally important that a modern bus network is put in place which reflects changes in society, increases bus usage, provides opportunities for young people to stay in the region and helps support the behavioural change necessary to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
The survey closed in January 2023.
2024 - Proposed service changes
The following summarises the proposed service changes, by locality, as identified by the Bus Network Review.
Berwickshire Area
Main towns: Duns, Coldstream & Eyemouth
• Service 60 – Forms part of new 15-minute frequency between
Galashiels and BGH. Divert via Eyemouth and Foulden on alternating
hours increasing the frequency of the service between Duns and Berwick
to Hourly.
• Service 67 – Forms part of new 15 minute frequency between Galashiels
and BGH. Explore opportunity for operator to operate commercially
between Kelso and Galashiels.
• Service 85 – Consider a revised Kelso town services, which could extend
to Leitholm and Greenlaw. Potential also to introduce a taxi bus service.
Cheviot Area
Main towns: Jedburgh, Kelso & St Boswells
• Service 20 - Retain and incorporate Service 21, Operator to focus
on links between Hawick, Jedburgh and Howdenburn providing
connections to the Jed Campus
• Service 21 - Incorporate into service 20.
• Service 51 – Service to form part of a 15-minute frequency between
Galashiels and BGH also serving Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
• Service 68 - Service to form part of a 15-minute frequency between
Galashiels and BGH, Explore commercial opportunities with operator.
• Services 80/81/81A – Extend routes to include areas served by
983 service (Springwood & Sprouston) and extend operations until
18:30
• Service 85 - Replaced by PINGO option for northern part of route,
and/or by new "lollipop" DRT/Taxibus service focussed on
Kelso, operating 2 days/week.
• Service 86 – Replace, acts as a placing journey for Kelso services.
• Service 131 – Retain
• Service 902 - Replaced by PINGO option for northern part of route,
and/or by new "lollipop" DRT/Taxibus service focussed on
Kelso, operating 2 days/week.
• Service 910 - Replaced by extended 80, 81 or 81A service, and/or
revised Town Service.
• New Service - New DRT service between Hawick, Jedburgh, Selkirk and
St Boswells, all villages within area bounded by A68, A698, A699 and A7
and Borders General Hospital.
• New Service - DRT many-to-few (lollipop) Taxi bus serving Jedburgh.
Eildon Area
Main towns: Galashiels, Melrose & Selkirk
• Core Network Services 51, 60, 67 and 68 – Retain and create a 15-
minute frequency into the BGH serving Langlee and Tweedbank and
improving connections to Lauder, Oxton and the Royal Infirmary
• Service 54 – Incorporate Netherdale into the service and consider an
hourly evening service through to 22:30
• Service 70 – Discuss with operator potential to Incorporate Melrose
Gait and replace service 74.
• Service 73 – Discuss with operator utilising the 73 as a Selkirk town
service connecting with the X95.
• Service 74 – Replace with service 70 for Melrose Gait, Netherdale to be
included in new 54 service.
• Service 86 – Replace, acts a placing journey for Kelso services.
• Service 911 - Replace with new "lollipop" DRT / Taxi bus centred on
Selkirk .
Scottish Borders Council – 25 January 2024
• Service 912 - Ettrick - Selkirk - Galashiels DRT (SBC) - Replace with
new "lollipop" DRT / Taxi bus centred on Selkirk.
• Service 964 – Retain
• Service X62 – Commercial Service
• Service X95 – Commercial Service
Teviot and Liddesdale Area
Main towns: Hawick & Newcastleton
• Service 20 – Retain and incorporate Service 21, Operator to focus on
links between Hawick, Jedburgh and Howdenburn
• Hawick Town Services – Replace existing 46, 47, 48 & 49 services with
a revision of H1 and H2 routes to serve key points on 46 - 49 routes.
Some stops already served by existing H1/H2, 20 and other services.
• Service 127/127a - No changes proposed.
• Service 128 - Replaced by new "lollipop" DRT/Taxibus service focussed
on Hawick.
• Service 910 – Replace 910 service with new "lollipop" DRT/Taxibus
service focussed on Hawick, operating 5 days/week.
• Service 911 - New "lollipop" DRT/Taxibus service focussed on Selkirk,
operating 3 days/week.
• Service 912 - New "lollipop" DRT/Taxibus service focussed on Selkirk,
operating 3 days/week.
• Hawick Town Service - Extend route to replace 46 - 49 and extend
services until beyond 18:30.
• Hawick Town Service Sundays – No Changes Proposed
• X95 – Commercial Service, No Change Proposed although consideration
to be given to improved connections to the BGH.
• New DRT Service - DRT many-to-many serving Hawick / Jedburgh /
Selkirk / St Boswells, College campus, Bowhill House, Dryburgh Abbey
and Borders General Hospital
Tweeddale Area
Main towns: Peebles
• Service 90a/90b - Retain, extending services into the early evening,
consider a 30 minute frequency beyond 18:30.
• Service 91 – Improving the connections between the 91 and Stuarts
191 service and Borders Buses X62. Consider working with Strathclyde
Passenger Transport (SPT) and Stuarts coaches to extend the 191
through to Peebles.
• Service 93 – Consider a loop service serving Peebles, Biggar and West
Linton.
• Service 101 – No changes proposed.
• Service X62 – Commercial Service, No changes proposed.
Data Sharing Protocol - Scottish Borders Council Bus Network Review
1. Data Provider Protocol
1.1 Scottish Borders Council Bus Network Review is capturing data from across the Scottish Borders to inform the development of a study report.
1.2 A data privacy impact assessment has been completed which confirms there is no personal information in the data being requested.
1.3 To ensure best practice and to mitigate any personal information being sent / received in error the organisation providing data should follow the protocol detailed below.
• Review all data fields to check that an individual completing a survey has not included personal information in error before sharing with the project team. If any personal information has been included, it should be removed before sharing with the project team.
• Survey questions will ask for postcode information. A full postcode can be deemed as personal information if there is only one house in the area. Based on this the last digit of the postcode should be removed e.g TD6 9A_
• Ensuring the last digit is removed from the postcode is a critical check before sending data to the project team.
• If personal data has been sent to the project team in error, the project team should be notified immediately and asked to delete the data
2. Data Recipient Protocol
2.1 In the event that personal information is received by the project team the steps below will be taken by the project team to mitigate the data breach.
• Notify the organisation that provided the personal information.
• Delete the information provided.
• Request the data is provided again ensuring no personal information is provided.
• Review re-submitted data to ensure personal information has been successfully removed.
3. Data Retention
3.1 Scottish Borders Council Bus Network Review will retain data related to the project for a minimum of seven years. The data may be shared with the six partner Local Authorities (City of Edinburgh Council, East Lothian Council, Fife Council, Midlothian Council, Scottish Borders Council & West Lothian Council). The Consultant/s who are going the collate and analyse the data on behalf of the project are appointed through the ESPO Framework Contract that requires the Consultant/s to adhere to the Data Protection Act, and enables individual agreements with Consultants, on a case by case basis, for data to be deleted after completion of the commission.
4. Data Protection & Privacy Statement
4.1 Scottish Borders Council data protection & privacy statement