Public Transport Experience: Contentious Caledonian Considerations

Dumbarton Grumbles Part 2

The press article, for which the above was a headline picture, was very thorough and a little bit better than the more usual stuff from a small syndicated local paper.

Before fbb can attempt to summarise the reporting, we need to know where the 340 used to go. Fortunately the map on the PTE "leaflet" is better than McColl's computer generated squiggle.

So the route starts at Helensburgh and runs via Duck Bay on the western shore of the Loch. But this in only an early morning positioning trip with a return arriving back at 2111. The main drag is between Vale of Leven Hospital ...

.... and Queen Alexandra Hospital, Paisley ...

... crossing the Clyde via the impressive but under-used Erskine Bridge.

Those bits of wire rope always seem inadequate to hold the whole thing up!

But the hospitals and the detail on the McColls map ...

... show that, at its heart, the 340 was a bus to get Dumbarton passengers and hospital users from Vale of Level to Paisley. Once at the Erskine Bridge, the 340 runs non stop to the Queen Alexandra.

With that in mind we can now pick up the (fbb expurgated) press article.

The Hospitalwatch group – made up of Dunbartonshire locals and led by chairman Jim Moohan – has long been campaigning against the axing of McColl’s 340 bus, an NHS-funded service which has linked the Vale of Leven Hospital (VoLH) with the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley since 2009.

Jim said: “We've had a good working relationship with the hospital board for the last 15 years, so this is a complete breach of trust, and it is very short notice to announce they’re taking away this transport provision.

The service was introduced after the A&E at the Vale of Leven was cut in 2004 which also led to Hospitalwatch’s formation as they pushed to ensure that the services in Alexandria remained.

However, it was announced back in May that the route would operate for the final time on June 28 after the Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) hospital board pulled the contract.

But it is not a simple withdrawal!

As of June 29, the 340 will no longer be for public use and will only transport NHS staff and patients between the two hospitals. Patients will have to provide proof of an appointment to access the service. It means visitors to the hospital will no longer be able to use the service and will instead have to travel longer to visit their loved ones.

Jim said: “This bus is important to people. We will be demanding it is returned for the community to use. When the bus is removed, people will have to get other buses and trains.

Dumbarton MSP, Jackie Baillie, has previously spoken out about the "appalling" decision. She said: “The 340 service is of vital importance and simply must continue.

The Health Authority said the service was significantly underused, with passenger uptake ranging between 33% to 35% across most scheduled journeys.

Seems quite good, to fbb, for that sort of specialised service.

A spokesperson added: "It is a more cost-effective approach as the costs of the service provided by the bus company have increased markedly, rising to over £174,000 annually in 2025/26. Charitable funding that was previously available to NHSGGC to support this service has also ended.

The new free service for staff and patients will use our own 18-seater minibus, which remains accessible for wheelchair users and will be suitable for prams and buggies. In making this decision, we sought the views of those using the service run by the bus company through a survey which was advertised on the bus itself, and at bus stops at both hospitals."

Now fbb has never fully understood the ways and wiles of Public Transport, especially in the byways a wilds of Bonny Scotland. Transport practice and policy is one of the dark arts of economics and administration ...

BUT ...

... even our least experienced readers might be able to spot a solution to this impasse; a solution that would go some way to keeping Jim and his campaign group happy.

People Power Produces Progress?

Why not make the internal hospital minibus service available for the public as well as staff and patients.

Why not indeed?

The NHS has changed its mind!

A NHS GGC spokesperson said: "A new, free transport link between the Vale of Leven Hospital and Royal Alexandra Hospital has been expanded in response to feedback from the public.

"The link, which replaces the underused service provided by a bus operator, will now be available to staff, patients and visitors.

"It will be more frequent than the previous service, and will be significantly more useful."

Or Has It?

Is the hospital free service a true replacement for the 340? Will it truly fill the gaps left by the 340?

Here is the hospital timetable ...

... with SEVEN journeys instead of five.

Here us the equivalent section of the 340 timetable.

Well, the running time at 45 minutes is the same, but the hospital offers no intermediate stops between the two termini.

Nothing on the hospital web site suggests that intermediate stops are part of their offer although the running times are identical.

The hospital bus will NOT be a replacement for the 340 if visitors have to get from, say, Dumbarton to the Vale of Leven Hospital before setting off back, through Dumbarton, to get to Paisley.

fbb simply does not know and cannot find out.

Maybe a blog reader knows. Information to:-

fbb@xephos.com

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Yesterday's Puzzle Picture

Walham Green was the name of Fulham Broadway station on London's Inderground District Line. (there were a few small verbal clues in fbb's very uncunning remarks asscoiated with the picture!)

The name was changed as recently as 1952, although the 7-year-old fbb seems to have missed the exciting news. There was, once, a vilage of Walham Green and the name now refers to a "conservation area" around the station..

The former station entrance area, now enhanced by the new name plate, is reborn as a small market arcade ...