A BUS company owned by Rangers directors James and Sandy Easdale has become the first to confirm it will run the flagship Fastlink service to Scotland's newest hospital.

 

Greenock-based McGill's said it will launch its first service on the purpose-built bus route between the city centre and the new Southern hospital in Govan from May 11, around two weeks after the first staff arrive on site.

The £40 million Fastlink infrastructure, which includes segregated bus-only lanes, is intended to cut the journey time from 25 to 20 minutes with pick up points at Buchanan Bus Station, Queen Street and Glasgow Central railways stations.

Managing director Ralph Roberts said the "high frequency" McGill's Fastlink will operate seven days a week between 6am and midnight.

Mr Roberts added that the bus industry would "not be slow to spot a need" for improved public transport amid warnings that some nursing staff were threatening to quit over parking shortages.

He said: "When something as large and new as this project happens, there will always be a bit of uncertainty around, I'm confident that between the NHS and the highly adaptive Scottish bus industry, it will soon settle down into a very well connected site."

It comes amid concerns that the strict fleet criteria for vehicles operating on the Fastlink route was deterring commercial operators from committing to the service.

All Fastlink buses will carry the same branded livery regardless of the operator, and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport - the public body in charge of the service - has said all operators using the route must meet tough targets on emissions, vehicle cleanliness and customer service, as well as using only accessible low floor buses which are fitted with CCTV and smart ticketing technology.

Public transport to and from the £842m super-campus is a key plank in efforts to cut the number of staff travelling to work by car, although the health board has acknowledged that areas including Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Ayrshire and north-west Glasgow are "'light' in terms of bus provision or frequency of service".

The new hospital, which replaces the Victoria and Western Infirmaries, Yorkhill hospital, Southern General and Mansionhouse Unit, will employ some 10,000 staff once it is fully open in June.

There will be roughly one parking space for every four employees on site and 526 cycle parking spaces - around one for every 19 employees. Residential streets surrounding the hospital will also be no parking zones for drivers.

An additional 1000 car parking spaces will be added to the site from 2016, and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has also applied for planning permission for a temporary 500 additional spaces.

Govan Subway station, a 23 minute walk from the main entrance, runs regular underground services to the west end, city centre and parts of the southside from 6.am to 11.15pm Monday to Saturday. However, the operating hours on Sunday are restricted to 10am to 6pm.

There is also a regular train service from Glasgow Central to Cardonald railway station, 22 minutes south of the hospital, from 6.30am to midnight weekdays and Saturday. There are hourly services on Sundays from 7.20am to 11.20pm.

However, a petition from the Royal College of Nursing (Scotland) calling for more parking has attracted 7000 signatures.

Anne Thomson, RCN senior officer for Glasgow said some staff would have to set off the night before to be on time for an 8.30am shift using public transport.

She said: "We have repeatedly pressed the health board and council for solutions to this, but with eight weeks to go, our members still don't know how they are going to get to work."

The health board said its parking policy is "designed to ensure there is a balance for staff, patients and visitors getting parked on the site".