Mearns Community Transport (MCT), based in Aberdeen, has warned that if demand for the hire of its accessible minibus continues to drop, the vehicle may become unsustainable, the Press and Journal has reported.
The minibus currently receives a grant from Aberdeenshire County Council to cover around 50% of its operating costs. The remainder is made up of income from hires.
The volume of hires has reduced over the past year and MCT says that if they do not become more popular during the rest of 2018, there is a danger that the bus could be lost.
That would affect community groups that use the minibus, such as a pensioners’ lunch club, scouts, brownies and school parties.
“We’re finding that we’re not having enough hires to generate the money that we need to run the minibus, so we want to let people know that it is there for them,” MCT Project Administrator Louise Cairney told the newspaper.
“The council can only do so much with regard to how much funding it can offer.”
