Lothian Country has today (11 October) announced its intention to register two new routes and extend another in West Lothian from Sunday 3 December.

Extended Service 72 will operate between Kirkliston, Winchburgh, Broxburn, Uphall, Uphall Station, Pumpherston, St. John’s Hospital, Livingston Centre, Eliburn, Blackburn, Whitburn, Fauldhouse. This service will run hourly, between 0700hrs and 2100hrs, 7 days a week.

NEW Service 73 will operate between Livingston Centre and Blackburn via St John’s Hospital, Livingston North, Deans South, Boghall, Bathgate and Wester Inch. This service will run hourly, Monday to Saturday between 0700hrs and 2000hrs.

NEW Service 74 will operate between Livingston Centre and Fauldhouse via Dedridge, Polbeth, West Calder, Loganlea, Addiewell, Stoneyburn and Bents. This service will run hourly, Monday to Saturday between 0700hrs and 2000hrs and Sunday between 0900hrs and 1900hrs.

Sarah Boyd, Lothian Managing Director said: “Operating safe, reliable services is the backbone of our business and our teams have worked extremely hard to stabilise our existing operation to be able to confidently provide a robust and reliable service for customers.

“It is no secret that the last 3 years have been extremely challenging for our industry and as a commercial operator, with only 0.4% of our revenue coming from subsidised services, it is vital that any new service achieves the level of customer usage required to make it financially viable.

“Lothian Country is proud to be a part of the communities that we serve and our team is absolutely focused on running reliable services for those who rely on us.”

Lothian Country have been operating in West Lothian since August 2017. The operator took the difficult decision last year to review its network in entirety, making significant changes to its service provision in the area to improve reliability while continuing to ensure as far as was reasonably possible that all communities would continue to have access to a bus service.