Councillors scrap 30p charge to use toilets at Fife’s bus stations

Cabinet committee councillors unanimously agreed to get rid of the charges at a meeting on Thursday. The decision will come into force at Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and Leven.

The council was making between £30,000-40,000 per year from the entry fees, but a report explained that maintenance costs have increased - significantly reducing their revenue. Barrier entry systems are constantly breaking down and needing to be repaired at increasing costs.

“Removing the charge to use bus station toilets would help to improve accessibility, provide a more welcoming arrival/departure point, particularly for more vulnerable groups and minimise maintenance costs and access issues," the report continued.

“The issue of whether free access would promote anti-social behaviour has been considered and whilst a potential, there are equal instances of where the barrier system itself has promoted conflict issues.”

Councillor Kathleen Leslie (Conservative for Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy) raised concerns about the potential for trouble. She said that removing the charges at late night bus stations opens up the opportunity for vandalism to become “a kind of free for all”.

“If there does end up being more vandalism, then there’s going to be an increase in those maintenance costs,” she said.

However, council officers were confident that removing charges wouldn’t lead to a significant increase in problems.

“There has been occasions in the past - certainly for the Glenrothes bus station - where several weeks over the year the toilets have been free anyway because the barrier system has been broken,” the officer said.

“We have looked at whether there has been any increase in vandalism to the toilets at that time and there wasn’t. It’s about managing the people who are causing anti-social behaviour in the bus station to make sure they’re not taking advantage of the toilets being free.”

St. Andrews bus station, which is owned and maintained by Stagecoach, is already free, and councillors were told there are no plans from the bus operator to reintroduce the charges. Council owned toilets at the park and ride sites at Ferrytoll and Halbeath have always been free to use.