When it was announced that Stagecoach might not be renewing the contract last summer to operate services 101, 101A and 102 from Dumfries to Edinburgh, local communities organised an online petition and held protests at a number of stops on the routes campaigning for action to be taken, reports Richard Walter. The withdrawal of routes was as a result of funding cuts and increasing running costs and was feared would have had dire consequences for the elderly and less mobile who depended on the bus to get to shops and other vital services. The protest succeeded in gaining a short term reprieve until it was announced that Houston’s Coaches of Lockerbie would take over operation of the services from 1 April. An order for brand new MCV Evora-bodied Volvo B8RLEs is expected in late May and in the interim current service buses from the Houston’s fleet are being used.
