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Campaigner hits out over 'insane' change to main bus stop in Wick





Wick's main bus stop has been moved from St Fergus Road.
Wick's main bus stop has been moved from St Fergus Road.

A CAITHNESS campaigner has written to local MSP Gail Ross and Wick's four Highland councillors about the "insane" change of the main bus stop in the town.

Brenda Herrick says there was little advance publicity about the change which came into effect last month, with the stop moving from St Fergus Road to Bridge Street. She claims it will be disruptive and inconvenient for passengers.

Stagecoach said the decision was made because of the "challenging conditions" faced by drivers going into Whitechapel Road due to the parked cars there.

But Mrs Herrick said the installation of double yellow lines at the same time as they were introduced in Bridge Street and High Street would have solved the problem.

She said: "There are no bus shelters on Bridge Street so at times people will have to wait in the rain with their luggage. The whole thing is insane.

"There were usually two and often three buses waiting at the St Fergus Road stop but that would be very disruptive on Bridge Street. Passengers travelling to and from Inverness with luggage are often dropped off or met by cars which can conveniently stop in the riverside car park – this would not be possible in Bridge Street.

"There is one bus shelter with an electronic timetable indicator at St Fergus. Bridge Street would require two, one each side. A shelter with seats for those with shopping is very necessary here in rain and winter weather."

Mrs Herrick acknowledges the problem drivers have negotiating Whitechapel Road because of parked vehicles.

"It must be a nightmare but that could have been avoided if they installed double yellow lines there and the cars parked in the nearby car park. Stop the cars parking there and the problem is solved," she said.

Mrs Herrick feels that bus routes in remote areas need public subsidy as they are not commercially viable.

"I totally see that you can't run big buses with no-one on them. A fleet of smaller buses as used by Caithness Rural Transport would be more suitable but I doubt whether Stagecoach would finance this while they can give us old buses no longer required further south, even though maintenance of these must be pretty high," she said.

Mrs Herrick is also unhappy with the new Stagecoach timetable which she claims is "full of mistakes". The 81 service is mentioned but no longer operates, she said.

A spokeswoman for Stagecoach said: "The route revision will remain in place until such a time as the road infrastructure is safe for our vehicles to operate the previous route.

"We made a minor adjustment to the route our buses take in Wick from August 10, in order to be able to safely operate our services.

"The adjusted route avoids parked cars which have created challenging conditions for our team of drivers to navigate round in our buses. We will be closely monitoring the revision in the weeks ahead. Should any bus users have feedback to share on any of our routes or services they can get in touch with us at Highland.enquiries@stagecoachbus.com."

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