Tuesday November 4th 2025
Bus service X62 to Peebles
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Increased bus usage in the Scottish Borders is bucking the national trend, councillors have been informed.
Scottish Borders Council approved a Bus Network Review in January 2024.
Since that time there has been a “significant transformation”, which includes expanding services, improving access and a strengthening of the council’s role in the delivery of public transport services across the region.
The bus network in the Borders had remained largely unchanged for years, making it increasingly out of step with shifting travel patterns driven by new housing, tourism growth, changing work routines, and the arrival of the Borders Railway in 2015.
In response to these changes, alongside the wider impacts of Covid-19 and cost-of-living pressures, the City Deal Workforce Mobility Project commissioned a full network review on behalf of SBC.
Since the approval of the Bus Network Review, the council has brought additional local bus services in-house which were were previously operated by commercial providers with council subsidy.
These have included the 80 and 81 services for Kelso Town Centre, Morebottle and Yetholm; the 54 and 74 Galashiels service and the 90, 91 and 93 services covering Peebles, West Linton and Biggar.
The council now operates 19 of the region’s 39 dedicated bus services – making it the largest operator by route count.
The passenger numbers on the core network have grown by around 70 per cent from just over 500,000 journeys in 2019 to over 850,000 in 2024.
“This bucks the national trend and again demonstrates the positive impact of partnership working,” members of full council were informed last week.
Further changes have seen the introduction of Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) with two successful pilots – Pingo and the Selkirk Taxi Bus – carrying over 13,000 passengers annually, highlighting the need for flexible services.
Members of full council endorsed the creation of a Member Officer Working Group to support the next phase of the Bus Network Review.
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