Bus loss details go to local councils
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• Scottish Omnibuses Ltd is supplying information about losses on rural bus services to county councils, so that the authorities will have the facts if they have to decide whether to subsidize threatened routes.
A spokesman for Scottish Omnibuses said in Edinburgh: "Letters have been sent to those councils where we are operating rural services at a loss. This is merely to keep the councils in the picture so that they will have something on which to base any future discussions."
He stressed that the company was not applying to the Traffic Commissioners for any services to be withdrawn at this stage. He said he could not release deficit figures for individual routes.
All four county councils in the Borders—Berwick. Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles—have received letters from the company. The area has already been affected by a number of service withdrawals in the past two years.
Among the routes running at a loss in the Border region are Galashiels to Berwick, Kelso to Peel Hospital via Jedburgh, Hawick to Newtown via Lilliesleaf and Ashkirk, and Melrose to Hawick via Newtown, Lilliesleaf and Ashkirk.
Most local authorities have not yet discussed the bus company's communication, but some officials said they believed the end-result could only be a further sizable cut back on services. And the local authorities would have to dig deeper into their financial resources if they wanted to retain a bus service of some kind in rural areas.
In the south-east of the area, all existing services will continue to operate until at least next May. Both Kirkcudbright and Wigtown county councils decided to subsidize the operators after a warning that all services south of Girvan and west of Dumfries would be withdrawn.
"The position will be reviewed again in the spring when the present agreement expires," a Wigtownshire official said.
• Darlington rural council has approved a concessionary bus fares scheme for pensioners and blind people estimated to cost the authority £20,000 per annum.