West Lothian Council providing festive bus services

West Lothian Council will spend almost £35,000 to keep buses running over the festive period.
Linlithgow High Street. Photo by Michael Gillen.Linlithgow High Street. Photo by Michael Gillen.
Linlithgow High Street. Photo by Michael Gillen.

The council has historically provided an additional level of local bus provision on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, January 1 and 2 holidays as commercial services generally do not operate on these dates.

Regular subsidised services are also not contracted to operate on the festive dates with the exception of the 40/X40 service between St John’s and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

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Six services, operated by First Bus and Lothian Country, will cover most of the county with a two hourly service paid for by the council.

These include the X38 serving Linlithgow – Edinburgh via Winchburgh.

The services will operate on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day with the X38 Linlithgow service also running on Boxing Day and January 2.

In a report to the Development and Transport Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel, Nicola Gill, the interim public transport manager said: “Discussions have taken place with commercial bus operators to ascertain what, if any, commercial services will be provided on the four festive dates.

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“First Bus have indicated that they will not be operating on any of the festive dates and Lothian Country have confirmed that they are planning to operate a limited commercial service on 26 December.

“This service level is expected to be lower than a Sunday, however sufficient to ensure people can access St. John’s Hospital and Livingston Centre for the main part of the day. On Sunday 2 January, at this stage, they plan on operating a normal Sunday service.”