Borders Buses boosts winter travel with new early and evening services

Borders Buses will enhance key timetables from Sunday 14 December and 05 January to meet increased travel demand for commuters, students, and hospital visitors. 

The improvements build on the successful October network changes, which Borders Buses say delivered strong passenger growth, particularly on the new direct link to Borders General Hospital (BGH) and across major Berwickshire, Midlothian and Central Borders corridors. 

Claire Lark, operations manager at Borders Buses (Berwick), said: “Customer demand has continued to grow since our October network changes, particularly for direct journeys to BGH, strong and consistent U22 travel, and increased all day usage right across the Borders. Our December and January updates fine tune the timetable to keep services reliable and responsive at the busiest times of day. 

“What matters most is what this means for our customers: more reliable morning arrivals into Galashiels, stronger evening links between Duns, Eyemouth and Berwick, and earlier, more convenient access to Dunbar for students and workers. 

“We’ll continue listening to our communities and shaping our network around what works best for local people.” 

The new timetables include: 

Service 60 (Berwick – Duns – Eyemouth – Galashiels – BGH) 

Two new evening journeys will be introduced: 

• 1910 Berwick - Duns (via Eyemouth)
• 2015 Duns - Berwick (via Foulden) 

Service 253 (Berwick – Reston – Dunbar) 

• A new 0655 Berwick - Dunbar trip will support earlier arrivals for Dunbar Grammar pupils and workers.
• The 1910 Berwick – Reston Station journey and return trip will be withdrawn. This service was originally introduced to meet an evening rail connection at Reston, which no longer operates. With its purpose removed and usage extremely low, the bus link is no longer required. 

What’s new from 05 January 

Service 51 (Oxton – Galashiels) 

Due to reliability concerns, the 0804 from Oxton will be revised. It will now terminate at Earlston High School, with a connecting journey continuing to Galashiels. The connection is timed between existing services to maintain smooth onward travel, including for customers heading to BGH.