North Kincardine councillor Ian Mollison welcomed changes to bus routes through Portlethen which will confusion over which side of the road to wait for a bus.

He explained: “Because of bus routings sometime the Aberdeen-bound bus stopped on one side of Muirend Road at Asda. But sometimes an Aberdeen bus stopped on the other side of the road. It was the same with south-bound services.

The bus timetables will change from 5 May, and to remove the confusion, all northbound journeys operating via Portlethen (Muirend Road) will pick up passengers on the Asda side of the road, while all southbound journeys will pick up passengers on the opposite side of Muirend Road.

Information from Aberdeenshire Council’s public transport unit about the changes to Stagecoach’s bus timetables affecting Newtonhill and Portlethen, coming into force on 5 May.

1. Services: 7/7A/7B/7C/7S/X6/X7
2. Route: Aberdeen – Newtonhill/Portlethen/Stonehaven
3. Operator: Stagecoach Bluebird
4. Implementation Date: 5 May 2014

5.1 Journey Re-routings

i) The Monday to Saturday inter-peak and Sunday daytime journeys on Service 7B (Aberdeen – Portlethen) are re-routed within Portlethen as follows:

Southbound: Service operates via Marywell to Portlethen (Cookston Road), then via Cookston Road, Muirend Road and Bruntland Road to Berrymuir Road.

Northbound: From Portlethen (Berrymuir Road) via Berrymuir Road, Bruntland Road, Muirend Road, Cookston Road, then via Marywell to Aberdeen.

ii) 1740 hours ex Aberdeen – Stonehaven (Monday – Friday) is re-routed to additionally serve Marywell at 1812 hours.

5.2 Journey Re-Numbering

i) School-day journeys, formerly numbered as 7C, are re-numbered 7S.

ii) Service 7 journeys operating between Aberdeen and Newtonhill via Portlethen are re-numbered 7C.

5.3 Additional Journeys

i) 0840 hours ex Stonehaven – Newtonhill (Road End) – Aberdeen (Monday – Friday) (Service X7)

ii) 1645 hours ex Stonehaven – Newtonhill (Road End) – Aberdeen (Monday – Friday) (Service X7)

iii) 0925 hours ex Aberdeen – Newtonhill (Road End) – Stonehaven (Monday – Friday) (Service X7)

iv) 1600 hours ex Aberdeen – Newtonhill (Road End) – Stonehaven (Monday – Friday) (Service X7)

v) 1825 hours ex Stonehaven – Newtonhill Village – Portlethen – Aberdeen (Saturday) (Service 7B)

vi) 1720 hours ex Aberdeen – Portlethen – Newtonhill Village – Stonehaven (Saturday) (Service 7B).

6) The changes to the N7 (Nightbird 7) timetable will be as follows:

The 0040 journey from Aberdeen – Newtonhill – Aberdeen will now depart at 0110. It arrives in Portlethen at 0128 and Newtonhill at 0139.

The 0140 journey from Aberdeen – Newtonhill – Aberdeen will now depart at 0210. It arrives in Portlethen at 0228 and Newtonhill at 0239.

The 0240 journey from Aberdeen – Stonehaven will now depart at 0310.  It arrives in Portlethen at 0328, Newtonhill at 0339 and Stonehaven at 0353.

These journeys will operate on Friday nights (Saturday mornings) and Saturday nights (Sunday mornings).

7) The X7 express service is now operated separately from our local services – by Stagecoach Strathtay – and the timetable for this service changed on 7 April .