Published: Tuesday, 16th June, 2009 11:16am

Council forced to pick up bill for 'free' travel

by Ally McGilvray

BUS services across the Borders could be axed - because cash-strapped council chiefs claim they are being short-changed.

Councillor Jim Fullarton, Scottish Borders Council"s Executive Member for Roads and Infrastructure, spoke out just days afters the local branch of the Federation of Small Businesses drove forward a campaign to improve public transport across the region.

He claimed the local authority was being forced to subsidise the Scottish Government"s free concessionary travel scheme for pensioners and that had it not found an extra £500,000 earlier this year many services would have stopped.

However, the East Berwickshire councillor pointed out the council was reviewing bus services across the Borders in a bid to ensure it, as well as passengers, received value for money.

Councillor Fullarton, who pointed out 90 per cent of residents who responded to their household survey had access to a car, said: 'We are already struggling to maintain the (bus) service we have got.' But he added: 'It is vital that we keep our communities connected.'

The Scottish Government said bus operators are reimbursed for the free concessionary travel scheme and it was investing record levels of money in public transport in the Borders.

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