A KINCARDINE grandmother says she now faces a detour to Glasgow just so she can babysit her 20-month-old grandson in Aberdeen.

This is due to Citylink's decision to cut back on stops, leading to claims Fife has been "forgotten".

Retired Moyra MacDonald travels north with husband Murray every week to look after the tot, leaving Aberdeen at 6.30pm to arrive back at Halbeath Park and Ride for 8.58pm, in time to catch the final bus to Kincardine.

However, from November 23, the service will no longer stop at Halbeath, and the later option would see the couple miss their last bus home.

“What is frustrating in all of this is that the 6.30pm from Aberdeen is still in service,” said Mrs MacDonald.

But the bus won’t stop in Fife even though it passes within a few hundred yards of the relatively-new transport hub that cost several million to build.

“When Halbeath first opened, those behind the project spoke of ‘better connecting Fife to Scotland’ through it. It seems Fife is already being forgotten about in terms of connections.

“As a retired couple, we have loved travelling up and down the country on the service which is, otherwise, very good. It has enabled us to spend regular time with our first grandchild and get to know him.

“We are determined that this will continue, it’s just a shame Stagecoach is making this so much more difficult even though it still drives past our stop.”

She added: “The Halbeath centre is so nice for it not to be stopping there and the fact that it goes past the end of the road means it would only take a few minutes to go in and drop people off.

“We’re going to have to start taking the bus from Aberdeen to Glasgow and then getting the bus from Glasgow back to Kincardine.”

Citylink is also set to remove the 7.15am service from Dunfermline to Dundee. 

The earlier service, which used to stop at Halbeath at 6.47am, will now travel non-stop between Edinburgh and Dundee, leaving Dunfermline passengers without a service arriving at the city before 9.45am.

Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser had branded the cuts “short-sighted” and said that commuters felt “badly let down”, believing replacement services will be inadequate to meet demand.

Scottish Citylink hit back arguing that an average of just three people make use of Aberdeen to Edinburgh bus as it stops in Halbeath.

A spokeswoman said: “Like all businesses, from time to time we take a look at our network to determine which services are most in demand and which have fewer passengers using them.

"This is to ensure we are providing the kind of services that reflect the travel habits of our customers.

“As a result, we are making some changes to some of our services to and from Halbeath Park and Ride from 23 November.

“Unfortunately, our records show that on average, less than three people per day board or alight this particular journey at Halbeath and our research tells us that the vast majority of the customers who use our Gold services want a direct, express service. 

“For that reason, we have taken the decision that the 6.30pm service from Aberdeen to Edinburgh will not call at Halbeath Park and Ride after 23 November.

“We work hard to make sure that we are using our resources effectively to meet the needs of as many of our customers as possible. 

“These changes will help us to deliver a strong and stable network in the longer-term. We carried out a consultation with local authorities and received no responses asking for our plans to be amended.”