Bus firm to axe routes as bosses' wages soar

LOTHIAN Buses are to axe or cut back 16 routes in a bid to help the council-owned firm break even – at the same time as its directors bank inflation-busting pay rises.

A leaked report obtained by the Evening News shows the services are facing the chop by October, many of which serve large swathes of the city's elderly and socially deprived.

Among the services to be axed are the number 13 Blackhall to Lochend and number 20 Wester Hailes to Chesser. The number 18 Gyle to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and number 32 Granton to Clovenstone services are among those which will see their frequencies cut.

It comes as the bus company's latest accounts reveal its directors have collected an aggregated 13 per cent pay rise based on record profits of £5.9 million last year. Top earner is chief executive Neil Renilson who has seen his pay rise by ten per cent to £250,000.

Lothian Buses today said the 16 loss-making services cost it more £3m a year and said trimming them was the only way it could break even.

The council-backed company has blamed disruption to services by trams roadworks for a five per cent drop in passenger numbers but is also battling fuel costs. However, it has pledged it will not increase fares again this year.

Council chiefs today said they had no money to step in and subsidise the under-threat services but would look to help the affected communities in other ways.

Ian Craig, managing director of Lothian Buses, said: "The services being cancelled are the biggest loss-makers we run.

"We deeply regret that we are unable to continue cross-subsidising these loss-making but socially necessary bus services."

An emergency meeting of the council's transport committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss the situation. Among the options open to councillors will be putting the axed services out to tender, or to explore sponsorship.

Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city's transport leader, said: "As an arms-length company Lothian Buses operates completely autonomously from the council and the decision to cut or reduce services has been taken by the company on a commercial basis.

"The council has no available provision in its existing budget to provide subsidy."

Accounts released today show that while Mr Renilson's pay rose to £250,000, the overall salary and benefits package for the firm's directors rose from £792,000 in 2006 to £895,000 last year.

The inflation-busting deals are in contrast to the 5.1 per cent rise which bus drivers have secured for the next year. Mr Renilson said: "It's not for me to say whether I'm worth it. It's for other people to judge whether Lothian Buses is delivering value for money, but over the last ten years we've increased passenger numbers by 40 per cent.

"I can't be accused of presiding over a failure ... the remuneration package is in line with what the private sector pays." Lothian Buses' profits rose 20 per cent to £5.9m in 2007, while passenger numbers jumped by 5.6 per cent in the year to 114 million.

• Lothian Buses wants to axe services 13, 20, 60, and Night Buses N11 and N27 by October 5.

• Major cutbacks are planned for the 12, 18, 24, 32, 42, N8, N16, N26, N30, N31 and N44 services.