A Highlands and Islands MSP has highlighted a lack of investment in public transport as a key threat to Moray’s economic regeneration.
After contacting Stagecoach on behalf of local constituents concerned about bus provision in Moray, Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said limits to services connecting coastal communities and through Speyside risked leaving some communities isolated, with residents unable to travel around the county for shopping, leisure and social reasons.
Mr Halcro Johnston said “After an extremely difficult few months, on the back of generally tougher trading as online shopping increases, high streets across Moray are slowly coming back to life again as restrictions lift.
“But their prospects would be brighter if people could get to them more easily. And an important part of that is a fit-for-purpose public transport system.
“However, the current system of delivery of public transport is not adequate. It may suit the Central Belt, where operators can normally rely on large passenger numbers making services commercially viable, but for areas like Moray these levels of footfall simply aren’t realistic.
“Local buses are often lifeline routes for those who live in these communities, particularly those unable to drive. It allows them to get out to shop, to meet friends and family, to attend medical appointments and to enjoy their wider communities.
“They also allow many to commute to work from more remote communities, reducing pressure on housing in often already pressured areas.
“Relatively modest support could help deliver tangible improvements to our local bus services which, in turn could play an important part in helping drive economic regeneration across Moray.
“Local authorities are able to support bus services where they are not wholly commercially viable, but this power is almost meaningless when decisions by the Scottish Government in Edinburgh have left the finances of local councils like Moray so dramatically squeezed.
“If we are to avoid a future of shuttered shop premises, lost local businesses, isolated communities and increasingly isolated residents, we need to see investment in a local transport network that is fit for purpose”.
