PASSENGERS can expect a bus boom with the arrival of the Borders Railway.

During a private meeting last week members of Scottish Borders Council agreed to fund additional services to meet an expected surge in demand from September 5.

As well as introducing a new Sunday service between Galashiels and St Boswells, councillors agreed to extend their Eildon Explorer service to have it operating seven days a week with enhanced frequency to offer a hop on/hop off service for visitors arriving at the Galashiels station.

And if this one year pilot is successful a permanent new hop on/hop off route will be offered for tender.

New late night services will be introduced between Galashiels and Jedburgh and Galashiels and Clovenfords, with the extended 67 service to St Boswells operating only on Fridays and Saturdays.

Councillor Gordon Edgar, executive member for infrastructure, told the Border Telegraph: “Ensuring that local people can make the best use of public transport to connect to trains operating on the new Borders Railway is a significant part of ensuring that its full potential is reached.” As well as the service improvements, customer research will be carried out in the autumn to examine rail and bus passenger movement and understand the needs of commuters, visitors and leisure users. The research will examine how long passengers are prepared to wait for connections, gather information about key connections for onward journeys, evaluate the changes to the services and develop proposals for future bus timetable changes and new bus services.

Councillor Stuart Bell, executive member for economic development, added: “Enabling visitors to get from the rail stations to our Borders towns to explore our wonderful visitor attractions and the towns themselves is vital to making sure that the economic benefits are maximised.

“The Borders Railway Blueprint sets out how all the partners involved in the Borders Railway will achieve the ambition of fully realising the economic benefits of the railway.

“Better transport connectivity, increased travel options and new and improved bus routes to distribute people across the Scottish Borders are among the commitments made.” Half of the costs of providing the improved services will be sought from the Scottish Government’s Borders Railway Blueprint funding.

The council is continuing to work with Borders Railway operator Abellio to investigate the potential for whole-journey ticketing, bus pass options used to travel to railway stations, and for pre-booked taxi travel options.

Transport officers are also working with ScotRail to investigate the cost and benefits to the council of offering extended concessions on the Borders Railway.

Currently Scottish Borders Council supports rail travel concessions for blind and partially sighted travellers.