THE BORDER COURIER combined goods and passenger services operated by
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Eastern Scottish and Borders Regional Council (CM June 29, 1979) are now carrying an average of 419 passengers a Neek.
According to the council's Final monitoring report, the service, which started in May 1979, soon exceeded expectations that t would carry 200 passengers Der week. The service has also won the praise of the Borders Health Board, which uses the Courier to carry medical supplies to and from hospitals in the region, and the savings in transport costs to the Health Board are increasing the longer the service continues.
Initially, 13-seat Bedford CF minibuses with 106cuft goods compartments were used, but demand for the service led to their replacement last year by 17-seat Bedford VAS coaches with 150cuft goods capacity.
The study points out that the premature replacement of the minibuses increased depreciation costs, but will bring longerterm savings as the smaller vehicles, with over 100,000 miles to their credit, had begun to suffer from an increasing number of breakdowns.
The Courier has created a degree of stability for rural services in the area, as the services are substantially cheaper to operate than conventional rural services. But the operators are aware that the larger vehicles' goods carrying potential is limited by their girth.
Future possibilities for extending the service include the carriage of passengers on one bus's run from Peel Hospital to Edinburgh, with stops at Walkerburn, Innerleithen, Peebles and Edinburgh city centre.
Unfortunately, it will have to return empty to the Borders, as its delivery schedule in the city is too variable.
It is also possible that the buses could carry books from branch libraries to schools, internal mail for the Health Board, Regional Council, and district councils (saving up to £9,000 a year), undertake prescription delivery service (saving at least £1,400 a year), and carry council computer material between offices and to a computing centre in Edinburgh.
For the year ending March 31 this year, the service is expected to cost £80,909. Fares revenue covers around 10 per cent of costs, but revenue support as such is reduced significantly by contributions from users local government departments.