Bo’ness Community Bus SCIO

Registered charity number: SC047023

The Bo’ness Community Bus is a registered charity, which runs ‘not-for-profit’ scheduled daily minibus services between Bo’ness and Edinburgh, Bo’ness-Blackness-Linlithgow. We also offer competitively priced private hires and contracted services.

Our organisation is managed by a small enthusiastic group of voluntary trustees, who along with our staff of five drivers, transport manager and operations manager, sustain our excellent minibus service.
We not only manage the services, but we are all users of them too, therefore we are very much aware that customer service definitely comes first.

We provide clean, comfortable minibuses along with the highest standard of customer care.

We currently lease two Ford Trend seventeen seater minibuses, own one Ford Trend 17 seater minibus and also own a WAV bus which has a lower floor and is capabale of carrying wheelchair users.

Our scheduled services operate under a Bus Services Operators Licence issued by the Transport Commissioner. They are also recognised by Transport Scotland and qualify for Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) and the Concessionary Fares scheme for Aged and Disability card holders.
Our structure is designed to be competitive with fares are are comparable with our competitors.

We also run a private hire service which is open to anyone who wishes to organise bus services for any event, be that a trip of friends going to the theatre, a community group having a day out at one of the many local tourist attractions, or perhaps celebrating a wedding.
As we are also registered with Public Contracts Scotland and tender for Public Service Contracts.

Our services are all fully covered by Employers & Public liability insurance, breakdown cover and have regular inspections and maintenance.
All our drivers hold the Certificate of Professional Competence and are all CPC approved.

We look forward to welcoming you onboard.

Friendly Service

All our drivers are renowned for their friendly flexible courteous approach.

Travel in Comfort

The Minibus type we use is the “Ford Transit High Roof Trend ELWB 2.2TDCi 17 Seat Minibus” . They have many features, all are there to ensure our passengers can travel in comfort and safety.

Booking Hotline

We operate scheduled services and have a dedicated Booking Hotline for contact. We also also provide competitive private hire services.

Booking service available Monday to Saturday from 08.00 am to 17.00 pm or anytime by text/WhatsApp.

You can also email us on: Admin@BonessCommunityBus.Scot

Mobile:+44 (0) 737 698 0049

Overcoming Social Isolation

We were the first to respond when the Midday services to our town was removed in July 2016.
Since we introduced our service in May 2017 over 10,000 passengers have benefited by using their concession bus pass to access free travel.
Many of our local residents felt isolated as they were dependent on public transport to visit relatives, hospitals for appointments, or previously used the service for leisure activities or shopping.
Students also required access to University or College.
Many have welcomed and praised the reintroduction of a direct bus service to Edinburgh during the morning, midday and afternoon; particularly those who live in the rural areas of Mannerston and Blackness.

Boosting Tourism

Boosting Tourism is an objective we are realising through the partnerships we have built with other organisations in the town who are also dependant on tourism. Organisations like the SRPS Bo’ness & Kinneil railway, Blackness Castle and the Hippodrome Cinema are already on board with advertising on our minibuses and an exchange of information on Facebook and other websites. We are proud of our Town and our approaches to Visit Scotland have resulted in inclusion on their website.
This approach has resulted in tourists from throughout the world using our service to visit the Steam Railway, Blackness Castle and groups of walkers from Edinburgh who use our service to access the John Muir Way and Kinneil Estate.

Breaking Down Barriers To Employment

From September 2018 we increased these services to include an early morning and later evening service, realising one of our main objectives, helping overcome barriers to employment. Bo’ness is now primarily a commuter town, with many of its residents travelling to work in Edinburgh. With employment opportunities available on our route at Edinburgh Airport and the Gyle Complex, it is important that those dependant on public transport have access to a service that is affordable, regular and at times that are outside normal office hours.