I was fascinated to read today of how Stagecoach, a large bus operator here in the UK, has cast doubt on whether it will be using a newly built £4m bus station.

The bus station is viewed by local people and politicians alike as an integral part of a regeneration project based in the centre of Dunfermline in Fife. Stagecoach has been quoted as saying that it is
" ... currently working out whether its timetables could be altered so that services could stop at the bus station".
The Queen Anne Street bus station is part of a £100m investment project in the town centre.

As the single biggest operator of buses in the town, if Stagecoach decide not use the bus station, it has been suggested there would be significant lack of the new bus station. Councillor, Willie Sullivansaid today,
"I think it's ridiculous these private monopolies holding the citizens of Dunfermline to ransom."

On the other hand, holding out hope that the station would not become an expensive 'White Elephant', Councillor Tony Martin, chair of the environment and transportation committee, said:
"... a significant number of out-of-town and intercity services and all services from the west of Fife will be using the bus station."
SOURSE

As a non-driver, I feel Strongly that bus companies should be made to serve the public and not simply their share-holders.
It should be virtually 'written in stone' that, whenever such facilities are built, whether or not they are a as part of any regeneration project, that Public Transport services are neither withdrawn or re-routed simply to suit an operator's owner's whim.

Surely the intervening period between the date when the old bus station was closed and the opening date for the new bus station, said to be approx. three months from now, should have been sufficient time for any Traffic Manager to have trialled any potential running times and had everything ready for the opening instead of chilly shallying around in such a amateurish fashion?