A TEMPORARY bus service between Carmunnock and East Kilbride has been introduced by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).

It comes after a petition with almost 500 signatures was submitted to transportation authorities when First Bus decided to cancel the route in July because there was not a big enough demand for it.

The route had previously been suspended after Carmunnock Village during lockdown before it was announced it would not be returning.

Campaigners have been challenging First Bus to reverse the decision because they believe that people in the village are more likely to travel to East Kilbride for work, school and shopping than Glasgow City Centre.

First has met with stakeholders to discuss the removal of the Carmunock to East Kilbride section of their service 31 and to explain the reasons for this decision.

They were asked to provide further information and the data behind our decision, which they agreed to provide.

Residents in Carmunnock have also contacted their local Glasgow councillors as well as South Lanarkshire councillors who also wanted the bus connection to be reinstated.

Campaigner John Lawless said: “We met with the councillors and our councillor Euan Blockley and agreed that we would submit a letter to First Glasgow calling for the reversal of the cuts to the service.

“We have since found out that SPT are to Introduce a 31B bus service from Monday, August 31. This service operated by JMB travel will go between Carmunnock and East Kilbride town centre and will run Monday to Saturday.

“Although not optimal this goes a long way in providing transport for local children to school, access to local supermarket and to East Kilbride Town Centre.

“We welcome the intervention of SPT to introduce this subsidised service and thank all of those who took time to sign the petition.”

The petition raised concerns about the socio-economic impact of the change to the service. There are around 30 pupils attending schools in East Kilbride, who have no reasonable alternative public transport with other arrangements adding considerably to their travelling time.

Residents working in East Kilbride would not be able to commute, it will become harder to travel to the local supermarket or use facilities in East Kilbride town centre.

It also stated that there were fears of increased isolation of elderly residents who rely on public transport particularly because Carmunnock has two sheltered housing complexes.

SPT agreed that it was disappointing that First Bus has decided to curtail the 31 service from Glasgow to terminate at Carmunnock.

Their spokeswoman said: “SPT has been able to make temporary arrangements for the continuation of the service from Carmunnock to East Kilbride (service 31B) and we will be closely monitoring numbers using the service.

“As we have stated previously, SPT simply doesn’t have the finances available to plug every gap in the market that bus operators create. If services are not fully utilised, they will be withdrawn.”

JMB travel has been asked for comment.