Correspondence about the bus route changes rolls on

It now seems clear, from the many responses sent back in via this website, and FaceBook,  ‘I Love Leith’ etc. that NOBODY in fact received a leaflet about the bus route changes. We must have misinterpreted what Lothian Buses meant when they said they had “reached out” to “approx 22K households” in the area. Apologies for any confusion caused!

We wrote to Lothian Buses to request further clarification about what precisely their “reaching out” consisted of – see our latest email below. However from the reply we received, it appears that Lothian buses are not going to explain what exactly they did to reach out and inform local people, other than that they “took steps”.

They seem to be encouraging communication through elected Councillors (and in saying so, seem perhaps to not be keen to keep talking to us as a Community Council???). Well, you are all free to write to Councillors as individuals of course and you can find those contacts here. But please be assured that this CC will continue to liaise with the local community, with our elected Councillors AND with Lothian Buses.

We believe that our correspondence to date has not been disrespectful (although, inevitably, some frustration has shown through), and we feel that we are being constructive in offering to work with LB on monitoring and evaluating the new bus services over the next few months. We feel that it is the role of Communications Director of Lothian Buses to be ‘professional’, rather than demanding this from members of the local community and CC volunteers (who are by definition not professional).

27 September

To Leith Links Community Council from Lothian Buses

Thank you for your further email.

We appreciate all that you say and note your feedback accordingly. 

While Lothian took steps to try to ensure that information on the change was communicated widely – we thank you for your support in displaying the information leaflet on Leith Community Council website.  

Please be assured that Lothian strive to be a part of the communities we serve and we are sorry if the changes have caused concern amongst some in the community.  Our previous correspondence detailed both operational feasibility and commercial rationale for the changes and I can advise that it is now our intent to allow for a period of settlement during which we will keep the situation under review.   

In terms of wider community contribution we would in the first instance, encourage the feedback of common themes through City Of Edinburgh Council elected representatives with whom Lothian liaise accordingly.  

Gaynor Marshall

Communications Director

Lothian Buses

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23 September

To: Lothian Buses from Leith Links Community Council

Dear Ms Marshall

Thank you for your most recent message.

I wonder if I could ask for clarification?

You say “We appreciate that some of our customers are unable to access our digital platforms and so in addition to bus stop information being refreshed to reflect the changes we reached out to approx. 22K households (in the EH6 6. EH6 7, EH6 8, EH7 6) areas with detailed information on Monday 12 September and Tuesday 13 September.”

May I ask you to clarify exactly what “reached out…to..households” means? On a first reading, we understood you to mean that you had leaflets delivered through the door of 22K households. However, this does not seem to be the case. Have we misunderstood you? Did you reach out in another way, and if so, can you explain precisely what form this took?

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We understand that the period since the Queen’s passing has, unexpectedly, been a very demanding period for Lothian Buses across the city and that it may take a while before things get back to ‘normal’, so we do not wish to be overly demanding. However, we would like to reiterate our request / invitation to meet with someone representing LB at some point soon, to discuss constructive ways in which we (i.e. the community council, as members of the local community and representing the local community) can collaborate and work with you and help to monitor the new services over the next few months, as you have stated you intend to do. You will obviously have access to passenger numbers and other objective data. And presumably, reports from drivers. We have access to ‘soft data’ in the form of the views of passengers as to how well the services are functioning, and meeting peoples’ needs, any important needs that are not being met, and so on.

Thank You

Sally Millar

Secy, Leith Links Community Council

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Leith Links Community Council received the following message from Lothian Buses, in response to our earlier email correspondence.

16.09.22

From: Gaynor Marshall, Communications Director, Lothian Buses

Thank you for your further email.  All comments and feedback are duly noted.

In terms of our communicating the change I can advise that information was published in advance of the changes on 11th September.  We appreciate that some of our customers are unable to access our digital platforms and so in addition to bus stop information being refreshed to reflect the changes we reached out to approx. 22K households (in the EH6 6. EH6 7, EH6 8, EH7 6) areas with detailed information on Monday 12 September and Tuesday 13 September.

Attached is a copy for your reference – it may be helpful for you to host it on LCC website. 

I can also confirm that all decisions were made with the information available at the time following dialogue with colleagues at CEC (TTN).  

The changes that came into place on 11th September will be monitored over the next few months with our immediate priority being stabilising the longer term commercial viability of the network and subsequent economic recovery of our business.

In terms of your further comments I refer you back to all previous communication which has provided our rationale and reasoning underpinned by commercial data and operational feasibility.    

In closing I would add that Lothian strive to deliver for customers in continuing exceptionally challenging circumstances.  We pride ourselves in being a part of the communities we serve and we will only endeavour to engage in meaningful and relevant dialogue when conducted in a professional and constructive manner.

Kind regards

Gaynor Marshall
Communications Director, Lothian Buses

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We will be responding in due course.

In the meanwhile, we would be interested –

  1. to know more about the leaflets. Please can you let us know if you got a leaflet through your door (or if you didn’t, but you think you should have, as you live along the bus routes). It would help if you added your street name and/or postcode.
  2.  to hear more about your experiences with the new bus routes. Last week was highly untypical, but starting from this week – how is it going for you, so far?

Please write a comment below or email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk