- Improved service frequencies to Edinburgh ahead of the Edinburgh Festival
- Additional evening journeys and late-night services during the festival
- More Sunday services
- New route linking Dunfermline and West Fife with Stirling
Stagecoach have announced a number of service enhancements to take place on Monday 29th July for the Express coach services across Fife and into Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.
Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival, this will increase the number of journeys to and from Edinburgh on services X54, X55, X56, X59 and X61, with some adjustments to timings to improve journey reliability.
Amongst the changes, the frequency on service X55 between Dunfermline, Rosyth and Edinburgh will be doubled, with daytime services operating up to every 15 minutes and evening services every 30 minutes.
More journeys will be added on services X54/X59 between Glenrothes and Edinburgh providing a 20 minute frequency Monday to Saturday and extra trips on Sundays.
Late night journeys from Edinburgh will be introduced on service X55 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights too, ensuring safe travel home for those enjoying the Edinburgh Festival and beyond, with all existing tickets and passes valid on these night buses. (These late night journeys will operate Monday to Saturday during the festival, reverting back to Thurs/Fri/Sat evenings thereafter).
More Sunday journeys are also being added into the network, with service X56 (Perth-Kinross-Kelty-Edinburgh) providing a new 2 hourly service and new Sunday trips on the X61 (Kirkcaldy-Edinburgh), which, alongside additional journeys on service X59, means the frequency of service available between Halbeath Park & Ride and Edinburgh will increase to every 15 minutes during the daytime.
Also on Sundays, service X61 will provide new links between the East Neuk and Edinburgh, providing more opportunities for tourists and locals alike to visit the many great scenic and visitor attractions across Fife. Service X60 will continue to provide these links Monday to Saturdays as it does at present.
Douglas Robertson, Managing Director for Stagecoach East Scotland said:
“With more and more people using our Edinburgh services each year, these service enhancements come at precisely the right time, providing frequent transport to reach the Edinburgh Festival for less, and with more trips during the day, at the weekends and evenings, it’s never been easier to leave the car behind (or at a P&R site!)
“For our regular travellers, this also means commuting by bus is even more practical - services from Ferrytoll P&R now depart up to every 5 mins to the capital, meaning easy connections are possible across our wider bus network and we’ve tried to speed up journeys on certain services too.”
Stagecoach have also announced a brand-new express service to operate between Dunfermline and Stirling, calling at Oakley, Blairhall and Alloa providing journeys up to every hour, 7 days a week. Service X22 will provide new bus links across West Fife, offering new travel opportunities and a convenient service for students, as they can connect with Midland Bluebird’s Unilink service at Stirling bus station for the University of Stirling.
Douglas Robertson added: “With our recent expansion of the West Fife ticket zone, to include Stirling and Forth Valley, it also means customers using this new route benefit from reduced fares using our range of multi-journey ticket options and a cheap day return ticket between Alloa and Stirling too.”
A number of other minor timing and stop changes will take place from Monday 29th July on other express services to improve service punctuality and to reflect customer and staff feedback. A summary of all the changes is available here: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/service-updates/serviceupdatesarticle?SituationId=ID-28/06/2024-15:53:55:726, with full timetables available by mid July.
Stagecoach have recently completed a consultation period for changes to local services across Fife, having welcomed feedback on service proposals from staff, customers and with local authorities. The bus company is currently reviewing the feedback, making adjustments as necessary before the service changes will be confirmed later this month.
Stagecoach have thanked the public for feedback and noted that several timetables have been adjusted to cater for shift times and specific requests have been met wherever possible.
The proposals highlighted major changes to the Dunfermline network with many services now serving the new learning campus and associated journeys to link the schools and facilities at the new site. Previous feedback along with extensive route monitoring has been used to improve the punctuality of services in the area with timing adjustments on other routes to maintain connections for onward travel.
The operator also advised that conversations are ongoing with local authorities regarding some services which were highlighted to be withdrawn due to low usage (a section of service 8, service 30 and service 36). Once these discussions are complete, and Stagecoach have been through all the feedback received, new timetables will be confirmed and published later this month.