Following a public consultation last year, Stagecoach have been working with partners, including Aberdeenshire Council to improve the service within Westhill and district.
From 16th August, 2015 there will be a new No 16 to service the town of Westhill – on an hourly basis – starting at Broadstraik roundabout – travelling along A944 towards Tesco roundabout, heading up Westhill Drive to turning circle coming back down via Hillside Road, Westhill Drive, down to Tesco and finishing off at Prospect Road. This would allow passengers from the top of Westhill to have a link to the X17 which will remain unchanged.
The X18 will be every 20 minutes from Aberdeen to Broadstraik roundabout and every third journey will go out to Alford (meaning Alford is served much better than at present). The X18 will go via ARI (please note drop off will be on Westburn Road, opposite Foresterhill Health Centre, not the main hospital entrance).
In effect passengers will have the choice of X17 every 10 minutes via Queen’s Road or the X18 every 20 minutes via ARI. I do realise that although residents at the top of the hill would prefer to have just one journey to Aberdeen, the new town service (16) will at least afford transport up and down to connect with the Aberdeen services.
I am also aware that this still leaves the Broadshade development out of the loop as far as bus provision picking up/dropping off within this estate is concerned. I have been assured by Stagecoach that they will look at Broadshade again once the new timetable beds in. I will make sure that this issue remains on the agenda at future bus forums and any meetings we have with Stagecoach/Aberdeenshire Council transport unit.
The new timetable for services 16 and X17 from 16th August can be viewed here
Please note that the 218 will be discontinued. The new X18 timetable as of 16th August can be viewed here
Westhill has a good bus service compared to other towns within Aberdeenshire.
But I feel it could be improved such as Kirkton of Skene and Berryhill housing estate could be better served at times.
The service 16 Hillside / Arnhall is very under used as it does not go into town, passengers are expected to hop on this bus and hop off onto other bus to town. There should be direct bus to town serving Hillside / Arnhall business park.
Why do Stagecoach insist in using similar service numbering to the city buses First bus for example weekend N17 Westhill late night bus , the same number N17 is used on First bus Dyce / Bucksburn late night bus. X17 & X18 which are used to serve different parts of Westhill, First bus have 17 & 18 operating between Dyce / Bucksburn & Kincorth the similar numbering can confuse some people.
I notice on some journeys on the X17 peak times some drivers forget to serve Arnhall business park probably drivers not reading their timetable properly.
On the brightside much more buses now go by Foresterhill.
The bus has changed and not so good as it was previously it was 10min in morning at subsea7 which is ridiculous