REVISED First Bus services are starting in the Wee County and wider area later this month.

Routes 62 and 63 are set to be replaced by the new 51 and 52 services in a reshuffle, while the 60 service to Clackmannan will be withdrawn.

The 51 will come into Clackmannanshire from the direction of Stirling, heading through Tullibody before reaching Alloa using the usual roads.

Half of the buses on this route will arrive in Shillinghill and turn back towards Stirling, eventually ending up in Cowie – rather than carrying onto the Hillfoots loop, like the current 63 currently does.

The other half will turn into the 52 service, which will head from Shillinghill in Alloa to reach the northern part of Clackmannanshire.

Similarly, half of the 52 buses arriving at Shillinghill will carry on towards Stirling as 51s.

It will take in Sauchie, Fishcross, Coalsnaughton, Tillicoultry, Alva and Menstrie before leaving the county towards the back entrance to the University of Stirling, in the shadow of the Wallace Monument.

Similarly, the 52 could be boarded in the opposite direction, heading into the Hillfoots from Stirling.

David Phillips, operations director at First Scotland East, said: “Our aim with these most recent network change proposals is to try and maintain as many of the lifeline services as we can reliably provide whilst also trying to make to our Stirling and Forth Valley network as efficient as possible.

“These changes are necessary to make sure that our services better match passenger usage and maintain their commercial viability."

Essentially, First have done away with the 62 and 63 completing full circles around the county in opposite directions, instead opting for more direct, point-to-point routes.

While the four times an hour frequency from Stirling to Alloa will be maintained, there will only be two 52 buses per hour.

The 60 service, which links Clackmannan with Alloa, will lose its service completely; leaving just the the H1, H2, Mackies MA1 and Stagecoach 8 options remaining for the county town.

Mr Phillips added: “Last month, we hosted a ‘meet the manager’ consultation event on a bus at Stirling Bus Station to engage with customers on the proposed changes.

"We listened to views from over 400 passengers, who gave feedback, thoughts and opinions on the changes.

"This feedback is invaluable to us and we have now listened to these views and as a result made changes to our original proposals.

“As a result, we have now settled on a finalised new network structure which will come into effect from September 10.

“We have heavily invested in our bus fleet over the last three years in the area upgrading them to the latest technologies for bus ticketing options and real time information systems to meet our customers’ demands and we will continue to look at ways to further improve and develop our product.

“We are aware that these changes may mean changes to customer’s journeys, but we are confident that these changes will improve our local bus network to the benefit of our passengers.”