Forth Bridge traffic shifts west

The Forth crossings at Kincardine, and even Stirling, will have to take the extra traffic from the month long closure of the Forth Road Bridge. Extra buses from Fife to Edinburgh will be given priority along the A985 Longannet-Cairneyhill stretch, and across Kincardine Bridge, whilst extra trains arranged, are at the expense of Falkirk Grahamston - Glasgow trains and two daily Dundee-Glasgow services, which will be withdrawn,
Cars from Fife will be diverted via A907 (Oakley) westbound) and B913 (Solsgirth/Saline) eastbound, or A823 (Powmill).

Changes to first services in Wee County

First are making changes to their Clackmannanshire services 60,62 & 63 from Monday 30th November. From that date, Service 60 from Clackmannan -Stirling will have timetable changes, but the main change is the hourly extention to Falkirk, will now operate via Cowie  to Stenhousemuir Shopping Centre after Forth Valley Hospital.  It means that, after the F15 service was withdrawn earlier this year, there is no direct service between Clackmannanshire and Falkirk.
From the same date, the circular 62/63 services between Stirling , Alloa & Hillfoots, will be supplemented by new 62A/63A services between Stirling & Tillicoultry, which will provide a 10 minute frequency during the day along the Hillfoots. New (to the area) buses will be used on the route.

Bannockburn Open Day

The First bus depot at Bannockburn are holding an open day in aid of Prostate Cancer UK next Sunday, October 18th between 10am-2pm.
Lots of activities for the kids, as well as vintage buses will be there.
A half hourly bus service from St,Ninians, Bannockburn, Plean & Cowie will operate from 9.45am.

Extra rail services to London

Stirling & Falkirk will get a third direct rail service to London, from the introduction of the winter timetable in December. The new Virgin Trains East Coast service will depart Stirling Platform 6 at 5.26am, and Falkirk Grahamston at 5.42am, arriving in London at 10.50am.  It's not a completely new service, just an extension of the already run 6.26am Edinburgh-London service. The return 3pm service from Kings Cross will extend to Falkirk at 7.55pm and Stirling at 8.14pm.
This train is in adddition to the existing Highland Chieftain service which already runs through Stirling & Falkirk seven days a week, and the overnight Caledonian Sleeper Service.

More Citylink cuts

Scottish Citylink are cutting even more services from the Stirling area.
From November 23rd, their 909 service between Stirling and Grangemouth to Edinburgh is being reduced to every two hours, with one journey each way extending to/from Stirling University or Dunblane, The last coach from the capital will be later, however, now departing at 1915.
From the same date, the M8 srvice between Glasgow & Dundee will also be reduced to two hourly, although the gaps will be filled bewteen Glasgow & Stirling by a new direct service three times a day.
Further changes will affect services to Aberdeen & Inverness, which donr stop in Stirling, but can be connected via the M8 service in perth or Dundee.

Sunday Alloa-Kincardine buses

Further to the withdrawel of the F15 service (see below), Stagecoach have maintained Sunday services bewtween Alloa-Kincardine by extending their Service 9 journeys between Kelty & Culross westwards to Alloa hourly between 1053-1553 returning from Alloa 1125-1625.
Additionally in the evenings, Service 28 will provide an additional mid-evening service between Kincardine-Alloa.
It would be useful to have these journeys indicated on the Service 8 timetable.

Bonnybridge area changes

Midland Bluebird are altering services in the Bonnybridge area from Monday 17th August 2015.
A new regular daytime service 2 will serve Falkirk/Bonnybridge to Fankerton and Stoneywood with a new early morning Mon-Fri journey to Falkirk from Dunipace, Barnego Road at 06.06.
As a result, Falkirk Road, Bonnybridge/Bonnybridge Toll now have a direct service to Denny/Dunipace. There's a direct service from Falkirk/Bonnybridge to Glasgow Road in Denny serving Sainsburys, Iceland and doctor surgeries, and direct Service from Dunipace and Ingleston Avenue to Falkirk
Service X86 re-routed via Bonnybridge Highland Dykes excluding the X86B at 06.43 Kilsyth - Falkirk journey, and additionally, the Saturday and Sunday 21.20 service from Glasgow will be withdrawn.
Timetables are on the First website.

Wee County changes

The supported bus services funded by Clackmannan Council will be changing from 31st August 2015. The new timetables mean the Council continues to provide services in communities where the current services are well used or where there is no alternative service.
The changes can be summarised as follows:
Service C64: Alloa Town centre will be renumbered Service C1 and will operate to an amended timetable
Service C68/C69/C70 will be replaced by Service C2 operating between Glenochil, Alloa and Tillicoultry Monday-Friday only.

Stagecoach changes in Fife - F15 Falkirk Service withdrawn

Stagecoach are making to changes a number of services in the West Fife area from August 17th.
Amongst the changes, the falkirk Council funded F15 Falkirk-Alloa service is withdrawn, which will result in a couple of changes to the 8A service between Alloa-Dunfermline route.
The Sunday morning 0822 Dunfermline-Alloa and the Monday-Saturday 2255 Alloa-Dunfermline services will be withdrawn,  The cancellation of F15 will mean no Sunday services between Alloa-Clackmannan, and the last bus Mon-Sat from Alloa is now before 10pm.
First are taking over evening & Sunday services on Service 6 between Steelend-Crombie.
On a more positive note, express services X24/26/27 to Glasgow will benefit from a later Glasgow departure at 2305 Mon-Sat to Kincardine & Glenrothes.

Whins Of Milton route amended again

The Whins Of Milton area buses are changing again next Monday. Since the area lost it's dedicated service last year, it's been covered by diverting Service 54 from Cowie, then St.Ninians Service 57. Now Service 57 will revert to it's previous route, and the Whins of Milton will be served by Service 24 Stirling-Kilsyth route, with frequency reduced to hourly. 

There will also be a timetable change on X39 Stirling-Glasgow from the same date. 

Wave routes replaced

Hunters have replaced WAVE on Stirling Park & Ride and the C48 Bannockburn-Dunblane services on behalf of Stirling Council. New timetables are available here

Citylink drop West Highland routes

Citylink continue to cut back on their services through Stirling. They have dropped their summer services from Edinburgh to Oban & Fort William, which served Grangemouth and Stirling en route, from their 2015.
Fisher Tours are running a service to Oban every second Thursday via Alloa & Stirling, giving 3 hours in Oban before returning. Fisher Tours also have services to Callander every other Friday.

New operator for Alloa Town Centre C64 bus

Alloa's C64 Town service will be operated by Hunter's Executive Coaches from Monday April 27th. This will replace WAVE who appear to be giving up all their tendered routes, including the H1/2 Hospital services, which are now run by First, and serveral other services in the Clackmannan (C70) and Stirling  (C48/C66/C67) areas, within the next 6 weeks.

Stirling Park & Ride issues

There have been issues this week with Stirling's Park & Ride services, due to WAVE, the operators of the Springkerse and Castleview services, currently experiencing driver shortages, which have lead to reductions in frequency levels. Up to date information is available from the council website.

First take on hospital runs

First have taken over from WAVE, in running the H1/2 services between Clackmannanshire & Forth Valley Hospital in Larbert on Monday-Saturdays, from this week. The contract funded by NHS Forth Valley is valued at £1,277, 880, will run until March 2018.
First submitted thge only tender for the work, and no award has been made for a Sunday service.

Local fares rise

First are increasing some of their fares in the Forth Valley from next Sunday (29th). The £1.80 and £2.20 single fares will go up by 10p. Returns and childrens fares  will increase accordingly.
Also the popular £2 Grangemouth day ticket will go up by 25% to £2.50.
However all other fares will remain unchanged.
A week later, on April 5th, Stagecoach will  increase their fares across the board by under 2%.

Weekend rail services withdrawn from Alloa

The new Scotrail operator, Abelio, is getting off to a bad start in Alloa. Although the new operator takes over on April 1st, long standing engineering works will mean that there will be no weekend (Saturday or Sunday) services from Alloa for the whole month of April. Rail replacement buses will be in operation. Furthermore, on Sunday, April 12th, further engineering work will mean that there are no trains between Stirling & Croy, but long distance services from Aberdeen & Inverness will still serve Stirling en route to Glasgow, although they will be diverted and journey times extended.
There will be a further two weekends of service withdrawel from Alloa in July.

More First Bus cuts in Stirling

First are cutting more services in the Stirling area next month, From April 20th, Service 58 between Stirling & Dunblane, currently an hourly service, will be cut to just one journey daily towards Dunblane & three from Dunblane.
Service 101, serving the Forth Valley College at Kildean will be withdrawn, although one return journey will operate for start & finishing times at the college by Service 57, between St.Ninians & Raploch.
Service 57, itself, is being cut from a 20 minute service to half hourly, and is rerouted via Whins of Milton, and Glasgow Road , whilst Service 54 will revert to it's old route in Whins Of Milton, and now serve Stirling Community Hospital.
Further cuts are being applied to the X39 Service between Stirling-Glasgow, with evening services being withdrawn,

First revisions next week

First are revising services next week (Jan 12th), and will withdraw Stirling service 53 (Whins Of Milton -Cornton), and reroute Service 54 to cover part of Whins Of Milton. Whilst maintaining the current 20 minute frequency between Clackmannan-Stirling, the extended journeys to Falkirk & Forth Valley Hospital are reduced to hourly.
Service 24, between Stirling & Glasgow, will terminate in Kilsyth, with Service 27 from Falkirk to Glasgow via Kilsyth being revised as Service X86.
In the Falkirk area, Services 14 (Bainsford-Stenhousemuir), 19 (Boness-Dunipace) and 37 (Greenhill- Callendar Park),are withdrawn, with Services 5, 6 & 7 and revised Falkirk Council services, covering parts of the affected routes.

Less Citylinking

Scottish Citylink have introduced a new timetable with reductions in services between Glasgow- Dundee, Most notable are early morning & Sunday journeys. Two morning journeys, previously beginning in Dundee, now begin in Perth or Dunblane. Northbound, the first coach serving Stirling is now 0940, two hours later than previous, meaning connections to Inverness and aberdeen dont arrive until after lunchtime.
Most drastic, is the hourly service between Stirling & Glasgow on Sundays is reduced 4 journeys, from 10 previously.