I have had a response from Stagecoach about the non-appearance of the 11.07am bus in Newtonhill yesterday.
David Buick, the assistant operations manager, writes: “I am sorry to hear of the inconvenience caused to local residents in Newtonhill on 10th May, unfortunately the vehicle operating the service was involved in a minor accident but did cause one of the windows to break, this obviously meant the vehicle could not continue in service.
“To resolve the situation another vehicle was dispatched as soon as was practicable given that this also required another driver who could take the spare vehicle out and we also need to consider who we can send to this because we must ensure that they have had all legal breaks and that the additional journey will not impact on their legal driving time for the day, so you will understand it is not a 5 minute fix.
“Obviously we do our very best to resolve every situation as fast as possible but with the majority of services being rural and with the ongoing delays on the A90 it is an additional factor in our response times.
“We are aware of the critical times at present for exams and do have additional resources at the peak times to assist with school journeys especially for those sitting exams, the last thing we want to do is add additional stress to them, also not forgetting those who were waiting as described by yourself, I know myself how frustrating it is to wait for a bus that never seems to be coming. We do update our service disruptions on Traveline and Twitter and passengers who have the ‘app’ can get live updates but I also understand this is not always great for some of the older generation.
“I hope you find this explanation acceptable and that that you can pass on our sincere apologies to the local residents who were affected by this unforeseen incident.”