Half-price rail travel for commuters travelling to and from Helensburgh has again been demanded by MSP Jackie Baillie.
The Dumbarton MSP launched an online petition following weeks of poor service in the area, with trains constantly being delayed or cancelled leaving passengers stranded and having to make alternative travel plans at the last minute.
The petition has now been signed by over 600 smangry passengers who want to see the train service get back on track.
Ms Baillie has written both to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and to ScotRail Alliance managing director Alex Hynes on several occasions, as well as raising the matter in the Scottish Parliament.
The latest performance figures for the train company show that trains are running on time to Dumbarton Central just 55% of the time, but less than 50% of the trains stopping at Balloch and Helensburgh Central ran on time.
The train company has also announced that from January it will no longer offer its ‘Kids Go Free’ deal, and generally prices are set to rise.
Ms Baillie said: “ScotRail’s performance over the last few months has been nothing short of dismal.
“Passengers have been subjected to delays and cancellations at short notice leaving them stranded at stations across the country.
“Services for passengers in Dumbarton, Balloch and Helensburgh have been particularly bad with less than 50%of services at Balloch and Helensburgh arriving on time, if at all.
“People pay a substantial amount of money and do not deserve such an appalling service.”
In response a ScotRail spokesperson repeated an announcement from last month which said that in the four weeks to November 10, only 118 ScotRail trains from a total of 58,510 scheduled services missed stops, while a Scotland, 80.5% of trains met the rail industry standard public performance measure, arriving at their destination within four minutes and 59 seconds of their timetabled arrival time, having called at all scheduled stations.
He added that a new ‘Kids for a quid’ scheme would be introduced, meaning up to four children can travel with each paying adult.
“The previous Kids Go Free scheme was a small group fare which was priced as if the kids travelled for free; essentially a product, not a policy,” he said.
“Only two children per adult could travel ‘free’ with Kids Go Free. The change opens up the cheap travel opportunity for accompanied kids to a much greater section of our customers.
“Now season ticket and flexipass holders can access cheap travel for up to four kids without the need to repurchase an off-peak ticket themselves.”
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