Edinburgh park and ride: Hundreds sign petition calling for Lothian Buses to drop plan to pull services from Straiton site
Hundreds of people have signed a petition to stop Lothian Buses withdrawing services from an Edinburgh park and ride site.
The company says its buses will no longer call at Straiton park and ride from September 7 due to the "low volume of customers".
But Mildothian resident Jo Anderson, who started the petition, said without buses the site would be a "park and no ride".
She claimed Lothian Buses explanation about low usage of the site was "utter nonsense". "There's at least 200 cars in there every day," she said.
"There has been no consultation with passengers about this, no notifications on the bus stops and there is absolutely nothing at the park and ride indicating that the services are being removed - and you have to go digging on the Lothian Buses website to find out that this is happening."
Once the buses are withdrawn, people leaving their cars at the park and ride to catch a bus into Edinburgh will have to rely on bus stops on the main road.
Ms Anderson said the city-bound bus stops were just a couple of hundred yards away from the site. But she said: "It's not the journeys into Edinburgh that are the problem, it's coming back to your vehicle because the nearest bus stop on the main road is actually at Lidl at Straiton retail park - so anyone with limited mobility is going to find that really difficult to cross a dual carriageway at pedestrian lights and then walk what, for an able-bodied person, is at least five minutes.
"I'm trying to stop this on behalf of people with low or zero mobility."
Ms Anderson said she used the park and ride at least three times a week to get to work in the city centre.
"My 85-year-old mum uses it to go to her cancer appointments at the Lauriston Building because she lives in Roslin, where she would have to get two buses to get in, whereas from the park and ride she can get one straight there and straight back to her car.
"Having disabled parking right next to where the buses are is the most obvious place to go."
She said as well as people from Midlothian parking at the Straiton site, there were people drove up from the Borders who were regular users.
"You can guarantee, if Lothian Buses does withdraw its services, people will stop using the park-and-no-ride, drive further into Edinburgh, clogging up roads, causing more congestion and more pollution, because they will go to a more suitable area to park to get on a bus and be able to get back to their car easily."
Ms Anderson’s petition, on change.org, has gathered more than 500 signatures since she launched it on Saturday evening.
Although the Straiton park and ride site is over the border in Midlothian, it is run by Edinburgh City Council, who lease the land from its private owner.
City transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said he sympathised with users of the site who felt frustrated by Lothian Buses' decision.
But he echoed the low usage claim, saying Straiton park and ride had never been as successful as the council had hoped. He said it was typically only 10-15 per cent full and it wasn't commercially viable from Lothian Buses' perspective.
But he said: "Park and ride facilities are very important in encouraging increased use of public transport and reducing congestion in Edinburgh."
He said officers would be working with colleagues in Midlothian to identify an alternative site for a park and ride further south, which would hopefully be more viable.
And he added; "This site will not close until an alternative site has been provided. This is an important bus corridor and it does need a park and ride."
In the short term, Cllr Jenkinson said, there would be pathway improvements to make it easier to get from the park and ride to the bus stops on the main road.
A spokesperson for Lothian Buses said: “In consultation with Midlothian Council and Edinburgh Council, journeys will no longer serve Straiton park and ride due to the low volume of customers using the facility. This will reduce journey times for most customers travelling on this corridor and alternative stops continue to be provided on the A701.”