Lothian plans new routes in West Lothian

Lothian Country has announced its intention to register two new routes and extend another in West Lothian from 3 December.

The move follows McGill’s Group’s decision to pull services out of West Lothian on 2 December, having taken over services in this area from FirstBus in late 2022.

The new Service 73 will operate between Livingston Centre and Blackburn via St John’s Hospital, Livingston North, Deans South, Boghall, Bathgate and Wester Inch. This service will run hourly, Monday to Saturday between 7am and 8pm.

New Service 74 will operate between Livingston Centre and Fauldhouse via Dedridge, Polbeth, West Calder, Loganlea, Addiewell, Stoneyburn and Bents. This service will run hourly, Monday-Saturday between 7am and 8pm and Sunday between 9am and 7pm.

Lothian is also to extend Service 72 so it operates between Kirkliston, Winchburgh, Broxburn, Uphall, Uphall Station, Pumpherston, St. John’s Hospital, Livingston Centre, Eliburn, Blackburn, Whitburn and Fauldhouse. This service will run hourly, between 7am and 9pm, seven days a week.

“Lothian Country is proud to be a part of the communities that we serve” – Sarah Boyd, Lothian Managing Director

Sarah Boyd, Lothian Managing Director, said: “Operating safe, reliable services is the backbone of our business and our teams have worked extremely hard to stabilise our existing operation to be able to confidently provide a robust and reliable service for customers.

“It is no secret that the last three years have been extremely challenging for our industry and as a commercial operator, with only 0.4% of our revenue coming from subsidised services, it is vital that any new service achieves the level of customer usage required to make it financially viable.

“Lothian Country is proud to be a part of the communities that we serve and our team is absolutely focused on running reliable services for those who rely on us.”

Lothian Country have been operating in West Lothian since August 2017.