Stagecoach timetable adjustments start Monday

Stagecoach are making some small changes to timetables from Monday (Nov 26th).
Among them, a small, but subtle change to Services 8A/B in the Alloa area. Departures from Alloa to Dunfermline will now leave 3 minutes earlier, ahead of the H1/2 hospital buses.
Inbound to Alloa, buses will run a minute earlier from Kincardine.
From the same date, there's an additional X27 to Glasgow leaving Kincardine at 0600 Mon-Fri.

Scotrail December timetable enhancements

Scotrail have announced timetable improvements to take effect from December, utilising their new 385 electric trains. High profile changes include quicker journeys between Glasgow & Edinburgh via Falkirk High, with average journey times cut to 47 minutes. Falkirk Grahamston now gets 4 trains an hour to Edinburgh, with the introduction of a half hourly Glasgow-Edinburgh services via Cumbernauld. Existing Dunblane-Edinburgh services will be around 5 minutes quicker, as they'll no longer serve Polmont & Linlithgow.
Alloa & Dunblane services will see new electric trains, but not on all journeys yet, so some services will be quicker than others, resulting in a rather erratic timetable.

#How's this for irony? The day after the new timetable was announced, trains in the Stirling area were delayed by "an object caught in the overhead wires" - and they're not even switched on yet!

No trains for over a week

In addition to the current Sunday closures of the rail line between Larbert and Dunblane/Alloa, the line will be closed right through from Sunday October 14th- Monday October 22nd. This is to allow further work on electrification of the line.
A special timetable will operate during the week, which will see Glasgow trains to Dunblane & Alloa diverted to Falkirk Grahamston, and start back from Larbert, with Edinburgh trains terminating in Larbert and starting back from Grahamston.
Services to Aberdeen and Inverness will only operate to/from Perth, with coaches replacing trains to Stirling and Glasgow.

Edinburgh Airport direct link from Stirling & Grangemouth

Scottish Citylink changes coming into effect on October 1st, will see further enhancements to their 909 Service between Stirling/Grangemouth in Edinburgh. Services will now provide a direct link to Edinburgh Airport, and there will be a new commuter X909 service which will serve Dunblane, Bridge Of Allan, Stirling , Bannockburn, Plean and Forth Valley Hospital, then direct to Edinburgh.  The two Sunday journeys are retimed.
Return fares start at £6 off peak to £11.60
Full timetable available here

National Express Inverness link lost

The overnight National Express service between Inverness-London is being discontinued from September 17th. Perth & Stirling which was served by Service 588, will now be served by Service 592, which operates from Aberdeen. This was the only direct coach service between Stirling & Inverness.
Several other cross border services are also being withdrawn, including 537 Glasgow-Corby and the 532 Plymouth - Edinburgh, whilst the 590 Aberdeen-London will no longer serve Manchester.
Check timetables here.

Stirling bus changes take effect next week

Midland Bluebird's changes to services in the Stirling area take effect from next Monday, September 10th. Full details are available here/

No trains on Sundays for 7 weeks

To allow work to be carried out on the electrification of the rail lines in the Stirling area, there will be no trains operating in the area on Sundays from September 2nd- October 21st.
Alloa-Glasgow & Dunblane/Stirling- Edinburgh services will operate to/from  Falkirk Grahamston, where rail replacement buses will provide connections. Glasgow- Aberdeen & Inverness services , as well as London trains will operate via Fife, and the two Glasgow-Elgin services will start from Perth.
Scotrail notice.

Vintage Bluebirds mark Falkirk Bus station closure

No Midland Bluebird bus services will serve Falkirk Bus Station after tonight, with most services operating via Newmarket Street or Central Retail Park. As many preserved buses were attending the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum at Lathalmond this weekend, several of the vintage buses made their way from Dunfermline to Falkirk this afternoon to mark the sad day- and a current service bus even got in on the act.

From tomorrow, only Stagecoach service 28 from Dunfermline will continue to serve the bus station.

Stirling loses direct London link.

LNER, which took over the East Coast main line in June is to cut one of Stirling's direct rail services to London Kings Cross from later this month. The newly privatised operator will start the 0530 Stirling-London service from Edinburgh, and stop the return 1500 service at Waverley.
Stirling will still be served by the mid morning direct service and sleeper services.

Lothian buses head west

Edinburgh's city bus operator, Lothian Buses are now operating to West Lothian, throught their Lothian Country Buses operation. The services from Whitburn -Edinburgh Park & Bathgate -Edinburgh City, both via Livingston are in direct competition to First's services in the area.
Lothian have also announced new routes starting in late September within West Lothian.
First have recently revised their local network in the area.

First review Stirling services- cuts to Hillfoots, Clackmannan, Cowie & Cornton

Following on from their reviews of services in Falkirk & West Lothian, First Midland Bluebird have, this morning, announced their review to services out of Bannockburn depot.
Full details are available here , where you'll also find a feedback form. The bus company will also be available at Stirling Bus Station on Friday for consultations.  Friday is also the closing date for feedback.
The main "improvement" will be the X36 Service between Stirling & Glasgow, which will be increased to half hourly, and will run as a real express after Cumbernauld.
But on the more local routes, there are cuts planned. The current Cowie- Stirling services are reduced to half hourly, and will serve both Whins of Milton and Braehead on the same journeys. The services will then extend to Alloa.  Services via the Hillfoots will also reduce to half hourly. There will be a 15 minute frequency maintained between Alloa & Stirling.
Services via Cornton and Bridge Of Allan will only run every half hour (currently every 20 minutes) between Stirling  and the University.
Clackmannan Service 60 will be withdrawn, which is not a surprise, due to its' high fares compared to other operators and services. The town will still be served by NHS/Clacks Council funded H1/2 services as well as Mackies and Stagecoach.
The revised services are likely to be implemented on 10th September.

First remove services from Falkirk Bus station in planned shake up.

First have posted their planned revision of services in the Falkirk area on their website, which include removing all services from Falkirk Bus Station.
Changes include increasing the X37 Glasgow service to half hourly, and reducing the 38 service to half hourly between Linlithgow & Edinburgh.
Boness will see services cut to half hourly whilst Langlees will see service increased to every 15 minutes.
Full details with proposed timetables are here, and First will host a Customer Roadshow next Wednesday, June 27th, 1200-1700.

Alloa trains withdrawn for a month

Major engineering work, preparing for electrification of the line, will result in no trains between Alloa and Stirling from Sunday March 18th through to Sunday 15th April.

Hospital and Clacks local services continue

Clackmannanshire Council and forth Valley Health Board have agreed to continue to fund the C1/C2 and H1/H2 bus services for another three years. The Council had considered merging the routes, but in the end decided on the status quo. The only change is, that from the end of March First will take over the C1 Alloa Town Centre service.

Citylink add early & late journeys to Edinburgh

Citylink are adding early morning, late night & Sunday journeys to the Service 909 between Stirling & Edinburgh, starting from next Monday, January 8th.
Three early morning Monday-Friday journeys begin in Cumbernauld, then Stirling's Raploch Campus , Bus Station at 0435, 0520 & 0553, the the 0700 service now beginning in Perth.
In the evening there's a later departure from Edinburgh at 2015, and an even later journey, departing St Andrews Square at 0015, operating via Falkirk.
On Sundays there will be buses operating through Stirling at 0900 & 1500, returning at 1030 & 1630.
At the same time, Service 909 returns to operating along Newlands road in Grangemouth, and not Charing X.

Alloa Bus Garage photos sought

Susan Fleming has posted on theAlexanders Buses Remembered Facebook page to say that she has just set up a photography studio in what was the canteen area of the Alexanders Bus Depot on Clackmannan Road, Alloa and would love to find photograph(s) of the depot which could be displayed  for people to see when they visit.