Darvel asks for a better bus service

For a town only 45 minutes from Glasgow by car, Darvel can feel a long way from the city by bus – and residents want that to change.
The Darvel Community Action Plan 2014–2019 recorded a clear desire to improve public transport, making it more useful to the whole community. Among the things residents said they disliked about the town was the lack of direct public transport to Glasgow.
It matters more in Darvel than in many places. The town's community profile noted that, with the lace mills gone, Darvel had become a commuter town, with most of its workforce travelling elsewhere for work. The nearest hospital is at Crosshouse in Kilmarnock, the nearest dentist is in Newmilns, and the secondary schools serving the town are in Galston and Kilmarnock.
Improving public transport became the third priority under the plan's Community Safety, Care and Transport theme. The proposed actions were:
• develop a proposal for improved routes, setting out the advantages of a direct link to Glasgow
• seek routes to Strathaven and Hamilton that would not require three changes – a phrase taken directly from residents' comments
• lobby for reduced transport costs
• encourage bus operators to allow BMX bikes on board, so young people from outwith Darvel could more easily reach the town's skate park
• negotiate with bus providers and the passenger transport authority, with the support of the local authority
The organisations named to take this forward were the Community Council, Stagecoach, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and Transport Scotland, and East Ayrshire Council.
The plan was particularly mindful of two groups. It noted that better transport would help young people travel around the area – and the BMX proposal shows how closely that thinking was tied to the town's facilities. It also flagged Darvel's growing older population, with 28% of residents over 60 at the time of the 2011 census, a group often more reliant on buses for appointments, shopping and staying connected.
Better transport also fitted the plan's wider ambitions. A town hoping to attract festival-goers, walkers and cyclists, and to keep its young people connected to college and work opportunities in Kilmarnock, Ayr and beyond, needs reliable ways for people to get in and out.
The proposals were modest in tone but practical: gather the case, make it to the operators and transport authorities, and keep pressing until Darvel's buses work for the people who depend on them.