A FRUSTRATED passenger has hit out at the “stupidly early” last bus from Edinburgh to Peebles.

Dorothy Coe was left stranded after attending a concert in the capital’s Queens Hall.

She rushed to catch the final X62 service of the night but was too late and instead took a Lothian Buses 47 to Penicuik, from where she hoped to get a taxi home.

But Ms Coe ended up stranded 13 miles from her house and was eventually rescued by her daughter.

She said: “We were at a concert at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh and, although we hurried out at the end, we can’t walk that quickly these days and just missed the last bus.

“We thought we’d be able to easily get a taxi from Penicuik but not one company either in Peebles or Penicuik would come out. Next time, we will just take our car, which is not what we wanted to do.”

The final Borders Buses X62 bus for Peebles leaves Edinburgh Bus Station at 10.08pm, arriving in the town at 11.26pm and 12.12am in Galashiels.

“If the last bus was even half an hour later, it would still be quite early for younger people but [would] make a tremendous difference to older people like ourselves who just want to go to an evening event in the city.

“And I’m sure a lot more people would then use the bus.

“It was very lucky that it wasn’t too cold while we waited and that our daughter was able to rescue us, otherwise I don’t know what we’d have done.”

A Borders Buses spokesperson said: “Following COVID-19 we experienced a shift in our customers’ travel patterns and have and continue to make changes and improvements to our routes including the X62.

“We have no plans to add extra later journeys at this time, however we will continue to monitor demand to ensure we continue to deliver a service that meets our customers’ travel requirements.”

Ms Coe has written to Borders Buses.

She added: “Borders Buses must lose out on potential custom from many people who already know that using public transport to go to evening events in Edinburgh isn’t a realistic option and therefore take their cars.

“The many people in Peebles who don’t have a car are deprived of the opportunity to go to events in Edinburgh, simply because the timetable does not accommodate this.”