Some interesting points from reports to yesterday’s meeting of Nestrans, the North East transport partnership between local councils, planners and industry.
The proposed park and ride north of Portlethen n the A90 has planning permission, but Transport Scotland is not able to contribute towards the cost at this time. The report says Aberdeenshire Council officers are looking at the options around funding and intend to bring back a report to appropriate committee as part of the overall consideration of the capital planing process in the next three to six months.
Bus punctuality is getting worse, with 84% of Stagecoach services starting their route on time in 2016 compared to 89% in 2010. Some 99.7% of services run, down 0.2% in six years. Meanwhile First’s punctuality and reliability has improved to 95% and 99.8% respectively.
Rail usage in the North East dropped to 5,579,000 in 2015/16 from a high of 6,033,000 the previous year. This was in contrast to a continuing rising patronage across Scotland to 186,718,000. Portlethen station was used in 2015/16 by 56,324 people, down roughly 800 on the previous year. In 2020/11 the station was used by 18,382 people.