The autonomous bus service crossing the Firth of Forth between Fife and Edinburgh will end next year, with operator Stagecoach blaming low passenger numbers.

Stagecoach has announced its 14-mile AB1 route tover Forth Road Bridge will terminate in February 2025.

The Courier Newspaper quotes the bus operator as saying “passenger numbers have been too low to continue”.

CAVForth has been a joint project of Fusion Processing Ltd, Stagecoach, Alexander Dennis, Transport Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University and Bristol Robotics Lab and was part funded by the UK Government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.

It was the first registered bus service in the UK to use full sized autonomous buses. A fleet of five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV vehicles covered the route, in mixed traffic, at up to 50mph between Ferrytoll Park and Ride, in Fife to Edinburgh Park Transport Interchange.  

The service was launched in May 2023 and was hailed as a major export opportunity for the UK.

(Picture – Highways News)