Hamilton residents are celebrating the forthcoming return of a vital bus service linking the town directly with Glasgow city centre – nearly five years after the previous much-missed route was withdrawn.
Lanarkshire-based operator JMB Travel has announced that it will begin its new X1 Glasgow Fast service on Monday, January 13, running hourly six days per week using two new vehicles purchased specially to serve the route.
It marks a successful end of the road to a community campaign, backed by cross-party local politicians, where locals in Hillhouse and Earnock were the driving force in highlighting their lack of public transport connections both to the city and to Hamilton town centre.
JMB say they are “excited” to confirm the launch of the new Monday-to-Saturday service, saying it will “provide direct links from Hillhouse, High Earnock, Fairhill and Low Waters to Cathedral Street and Buchanan bus station” in the city centre.
The company already operates various routes around the town and wider Lanarkshire area, including the 41 Hamilton to Lanark route, plus an evening circular around the town stretching from Earnock to Hillhouse, a rush-hour route serving Eddlewood and a service between Larkhall and University Hospital Wishaw.
Managing director Martin Bell said: “Our new X1 will connect the major residential areas of Hamilton to the town centre before running along the M74 and M8, providing easy access to Glasgow royal infirmary, the university quarter and Buchanan Galleries.”
“We have invested in two new, state-of-the-art single-deck buses for the service which will provide customers with a quiet and comfortable journey, driven by our small team of dedicated drivers; we’re excited to get on the road from January 13 and look forward to welcoming our new customers onboard.”
Full timetable and fare information will be made available in the new year, but JMB’s social media announcements advertise “short hops within Hamilton [for] £2” and note that under-22s and over-60s will travel free with their respective national entitlement cards.
Mr Bell added: “We have served Hamilton with our popular 41 service for many years, and after hearing of the campaign by residents to have a fast bus reinstated to Glasgow, we reviewed existing transport options and concluded that there was an opportunity to develop just such a link.”
The new JMB service fills the gap left behind when First Bus ceased operating its version of the X1 daytime express service to the city from July 2020; which was “originally withdrawn as [it] was sustaining significant losses over a prolonged period due to low passenger numbers”, while later calls for its reinstatement were unsuccessful with the then-operator citing driver shortages.
Earnock and Hillhouse residents staged a street demonstration, attended surgeries and raised an online petition highlighted at Holyrood during Scottish bus week, and were supported by constituency MSP Christina McKelvie, Central Scotland member Monica Lennon and local councillors.
Neighbours told how older, disabled, vulnerable and low-income residents had been left isolated by the public transport withdrawal, with some becoming “effectively prisoners in their own homes” – and now passengers have welcomed JMB’s announcement of the reinstatement of a local service, calling the new route “great news”.
SNP politician Ms McKelvie said: “Having campaigned alongside the community since the X1 service was withdrawn, I am absolutely delighted that JMB Travel have given some festive cheer to our communities with their decision to reinstate the route from January 13 on a fully commercial basis.
“JMB Travel have recognised the long-standing demand for this service that the community have been making clear [for] years in their ongoing campaign, and I want to congratulate all those involved in the drive to reinstate the X1 – it has been a long road but the bus will be back!
“The commitment to using a small pool of regular drivers and the fact it will serve Hillhouse, High Earnock, Fairhill and Low Waters, as well as Hamilton town centre, will be great news for many; I look forward to collaborating with JMB to ensure the new timetable and route are widely accessible.”
She added that the new X1 is being run “on a fully commercial basis with no subsidy from the public purse, as they believe that there is sufficient potential demand to make the service successful” – and that the route “will re-introduce a Monday-to-Friday service to the High Earnock area for the first time since the Covid pandemic”.
Labour member Ms Lennon similarly welcomed the “brilliant news for residents in Hamilton” and promised to be among the first in the queue when the new service launches, saying: “As a local resident, I can’t wait to start using the X1 in the new year to get around the local area and travel to and from Glasgow.
“JMB Travel has delivered an early Christmas gift [with] its plans to offer an express bus service between Hamilton and Glasgow; I wish them every success with this new service and encourage residents to make good use of it, and I want to pay tribute to our communities who fought hard to keep the X1 and all those who didn’t give up.”
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