Glasgow councillor brands First Glasgow bus services ‘absolutely terrible’

Conservative group leader Thomas Kerr says the First Bus service is “absolutely terrible” with buses not turning up on time and “vanishing off the face of the earth”.

Councillor Kerr claims he attempted to get the 38B bus back to Shettleston from George Square everyday last week but it arrived more than 60 minutes late.

He said: “I have left the office at a specific time to get the bus home and I have stood for over an hour waiting.

“One day last week there were three buses due to turn up and all of them disappeared off the face of the earth.

“The app said it was on its way and five minutes away but when it approached the Kingston Bridge, the bus just disappeared into thin air. It’s a real issue as I travel by bus every single day.

“The council keeps going on about sustainable transport and reducing air pollution but how can you encourage people to stop using their car or introduce a low emission zone when the bus service is so unreliable.”

Councillor Kerr says he will write to First Bus to try and solve the issue and hopes to arrange a meeting with them.

He added: “Bus services in the city simply haven’t been good enough for too long. Having experienced this myself recently, I am determined to get operators to improve their performance.

“I am particularly worried about what a lack of or poor bus services mean for my elderly and vulnerable constituents in particular.

“I will be writing to First Bus to highlight my concerns and will be meeting them in the near future too.

“As frustrated as I am with current levels of service, I am far from convinced that things would be any better under the ownership of the council, given their failures elsewhere in running vital services.”

Glasgow City Council has confirmed it is still focussed on exploring all options for bus governance.

A council spokesperson said: “Through our transport strategy we are committed to achieving world-class public transport for all users in Glasgow and for the system to be integrated and accessible to encourage greater patronage and a reduced reliance on cars.

“Subject to committee approval and once elements of the relevant legislation are enacted, we are proposing to seek funding to explore how city bus services could be operated in the future, whilst also moving forward in the interim on discussions on the potential development of a statutory partnership that can establish a range of service standards that benefit bus passengers.”

A spokesperson at First Bus added: “We recommend that Cllr Thomas Kerr gets in touch with us to discuss this matter in further detail – we’d be happy to speak with him.”