FURIOUS West Fife commuters have slammed Stagecoach's plans to axe a vital peak-time service – and only found out about them through the Press.

“Shocked and disappointed” commuters claim no notifications were provided about the changes to the X51 Dunfermline-Ferrytoll-Livingston service, and say their jobs could have been at risk if they hadn't seen our articles on the controversial plans.

The bus operator concluded a consultation recently on bus timetable changes and came under fire over proposals to withdraw or reroute a number of “lifeline” West Fife services.

On its website, Stagecoach states that while the X51 has proven “very popular” with daytime shoppers, “peak-time commuter journeys have not generated sufficient demand to justify the cost of providing these journeys and so we propose to withdraw the early morning and last evening journeys on weekdays”.

However, commuters have hit out at the lack of notice and assurance from Stagecoach and are now braced for a longer and more expensive commute.

Lab scientist Sarah Ewing could end up paying four times more to get to Livingston if peak-time services are cut.

The doctor of chemistry, from Don Road, Dunfermline, said: “I wouldn't have known about the changes if I hadn't read the Press.

“There have been no notices so I was going around telling other commuters.

“I asked at the park and ride and nobody could give me any indication of what's going on. It's quite frustrating and we will have to make alternative plans.

“I start at 8am and currently pay £32 for a 12-journey ticket on the bus – it will be about £70 a week on the train.

“I take the 6.55am bus from Ferrytoll which gets me into work at 7.45am, which is perfect. I'd have to take the 6.30am train from Dunfermline and it will be two trains to get me to work on time.”

Stacey Mullen, of Malcolm Street, conceded that the X51 was “not a full coach” but said commuters “really need that bus to get to work”.

She said: “The X51 was not included in the meetings Stagecoach held and there were no notices on the buses or at the bus station.

“Cancelling the peak-time services means the first bus to Livingston would be at 9am.

“The change is meant to happen on August 15 and if we hadn't found out about this by accident, we would have been waiting around and panicking on the day, wondering how we would get to work.”

Stacey, who works in a finance team, claimed Stagecoach had provided “confused and angry responses” and also not addressed enquiries to keep the service going.

She added: “Stagecoach are saying that the concessions are not enough to cover the service but passengers are happy to pay an extra £1 or have a smaller coach.

“If Stagecoach cut the peak-time service, I'd have to take two trains, then a 20-minute walk to get to work.

“People use the service for connections at Ferrytoll as well – one commuter at Amazon gets it when he finishes his night shift to get home.”

Douglas Robertson, Stagecoach East Scotland commercial director, said: “Having launched the weekday journeys on our X51 service last August we have found the daytime shopping journeys to be extremely popular but our analysis during the consultation period shows there has been little growth in demand for commuting journeys.

“Like many households, we have been forced to respond to the difficult economic conditions by reviewing our network and, unfortunately, we are unable to justify the cost of continuing to provide early morning and last evening journeys on weekdays for the very low number of passengers using these journeys.

“The timetable for the X51 service will be adjusted from August 15 to better match the levels of demand we have seen since the trial began in August 2015.”