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Latest News Bus transport in the Gryffe area has now entered a new
era, following the demise of the Dart company.
Johnstone, the RAH and Paisley services are now in the hands of
the small independent "Riverside", with the Glasgow Express
routes from both Bridge of Weir and Kilmacolm in the charge of First
Glasgow, using high-capacity double-deck buses (though there are signs
that these are being phased out in favour of less severely
speed-governed single-deck vehicles).
Apart from some reports of rush-hour overcrowding on the Glasgow
route, things seem to be going reasonably well.
A new service to and from Linwood by GBS (emulating the old
Graham's Bus Service "Clipper" initiative) will no doubt ease
that situation. So, with a reasonably satisfactory level of service all
round, residents of Gryffe could perhaps be forgiven for sitting back in
a general aura of complacency. The
fact is, however, that the Gryffe area has benefited from the rivalry
between the two major bus companies in the area, Stagecoach and First
Glasgow, in respect of rationalising their respective influences within
Greater Glasgow. It is
perhaps not entirely disconnected with these two rail/bus companies'
aspirations in respect of the forthcoming Scotrail franchise renewal, a
franchise which incidentally, is currently held by another rail/bus
company, National Express. Residents of "upper Bridge of Weir" in
particular should be aware that their presently greatly improved
bus service is largely provided
as an operational necessity (where else can buses serving the
main part of the village turn around for the return journey?), and if
the buses continue to run almost empty throughout the day and evening
off-peak times, no doubt the company will look for an alternative way of
getting around this particular problem.
So, "use it or lose it" would seem to be the prudent
attitude for these residents to take. Likewise, now that the Bellway Homes development
appears to have been curbed, and the Gryffe railway trackbed within
Renfrewshire has been reserved in the Renfrewshire Local Plan, there is
a temptation to put the "railway issue" on the back-burner.
It should be noted, however, that the railway trackbed beyond
Bridge of Weir has not, as far as is known, been similarly reserved
either in the Inverclyde Local Plan or in the SPT's response to the
Scottish Executive's Consultation Paper "Strategic Priorities for
Scotland's Passenger Railway" (Paragraph 58 and
Fig.16 of that
document, the latter captioned "Network Enhancements",
adequately sum up the current official status of the line.
Copies of these are attached). Any tendency to complacency or indifference about the
future of the railway within Gryffe may perhaps have been encouraged by
the fact that in recent months, rail travel has not itself been without
considerable problems, arising first from the failings of Railtrack and
now from railway employees' industrial action. This phase will undoubtedly pass, however, and when it does,
Gryffe simply cannot afford to be left out of the rejuvenated and
expanded rail system which will emerge.
Car users presently basking complacently in the superior comfort
of this form of travel should recognise the growing problems of
congestion, and the gathering momentum of the movement towards road
pricing as a means of minimising it;
this trend may well tilt their choice in favour of public
transport for some of their journeys, and they should endeavour to
ensure that the public transport infrastructure is in place to sustain
this option. Only by continued vigilance and timeous lobbying in the appropriate quarters can the residents of Gryffe expect to get, and keep, a public transport system worthy of the 21st century. But do they really want it, and are they prepared to work for it? This remains to be seen. |