A PLEA has been made to the Scottish Government to provide the cash to save town bus services in the Borders.

The First Group, who operate the majority of bus routes in the region, announced last month that they plan to axe 11 different services.

And they also plan to reduce the frequency of the Hawick to Edinburgh buses.

Councillor Gordon Edgar, who is the transport spokesman at Scottish Borders Council, said: "We have been in discussion with the Scottish Government to see if they will provide further funding to save these services as we simply don't have the money to increase subsidies."

The proposed cuts are the Galashiels 397, 61, 67 ,68, 73; Hawick town services 75, 76 and 77; Melrose to Galashiels services 8 and 9; Peebles town service 90A.

The X95 service between Edinburgh and Hawick/Carlisle will be also be reduced to an hourly service between Edinburgh and Galashiels on Monday to Saturdays.

An online petition against the cuts has been set up by Hawick campaigner Michael Grieve.

The petition reads: “The removal of the town services in Hawick and Peebles will mean that many older residents in these towns will miss out on links with other parts of the town and the wider Borders.

“The removal of the college bus service from Hawick to Galashiels will mean that young people from Hawick may miss out on training courses at Borders College which would help improve their education and life.”

And members of Selkirk Community Council raised their own concerns this week as the 73 busses which connect Bannerfield with the rest of the town also faces the chop.

Cath Beaton, who lives in Bannerfield, told Monday's meeting: "I know of people who are talking about moving if the busses stop.

"A lot of elderly people rely on the bus to get to the doctor's and shops."

The Scottish Government is conducting its own review into the impact of the First Group announcement.

A spokesman for Scottish Borders Council said they hoped the Transport Secretary Humza Yousaf would act.

He told us: "The Scottish Government has invited all councils potentially affected by the First review of its services to submit what the changes will be in each local authority’s area, how they will impact and how the councils plan to deal with them.

“SBC has submitted this data to the Government via Transport Scotland and has also submitted some questions it hopes can be raised with the Transport Secretary.”

A consultation process with First will continue for a further fortnight ahead of a final decision being made.

And an open meeting, organised by Bus Users Scotland, will take place tomorrow (Thursday) in the Transport Interchange in Galashiels, where representatives from Scottish Borders Council, First Scotland East, Perrymans Buses, Barc Coach Hire and Busker’s Ltd will all be in attendance.

The meeting runs from 10am to 2pm.