St Andrews and Stirling

History of buses between St Andrews and Stirling

As Wikipedia will tell you - there was a bus that ran between St Andrews and Stirling from the 1930s - initially the route continued on to Glasgow - but the route has gradually shortened and was finally withdrawn in 2020.

This page gives ideas on how to make the journey now that the route no longer runs. 

It can be faster to travel between Stirling and St Andrews using a Megabus between Stirling and Dundee. But weather and traffic delays over the Tay bridge can add a level of uncertainty to your journey which you may prefer to avoid.

You could alternatively use a McGill's 38 between Stirling and Forth Valley Royal Hospital - changing with a Stagecoach Express bus there.

But, probably cheapest, because you can use a Stagecoach East Scotland Dayrider ticket for the whole route is to use the new Stagecoach X22 service between Dunfermline and Stirling.

Connections are good starting with the 07:40 X24 from St Andrews getting into Dunfermline at 09:14 for the 09:30 X22 arriving in Stirling at 10:24. The last connection in this direction is the 15:40 X24 from St Andrews connecting with an arrival in Stirling at 18:24.

In the opposite direction the first two weekday X22s have good connections with the X24 - an 08:00 X22 from Stirling arrives at Dunfermline at 08:54 when an 08:59 X24 connects with a St Andrews arrival at 10:30. Similarly an hour later.

But from the 10:30 departure you typically have to change to an X27 at Dunfermline and then an X59 at Halbeath Park & Ride. The 10:30 X22 from Stirling arrives at Dunfermline at 11:24 - an X27 departs at 11:30 and gets to Halbeath at 11:47 where a tight change to an X59 departing at 11:49 will get you to St Andrews at 13:00.

The 18:30 X22 from Stirling gets to Dunfermline at 19:24 where an X27 at 19:30 will get you to Halbeath at 19:47 - you may well have just missed an X59 due to depart at 19:46 and instead catch an X59A at 20:15 getting to Glenrothes at 20:44 where you have to change again to a 59 departing at 20:50 and arriving in St Andrews at 21:40.

X22 buses between 11:30 and 17:30 range between these two extremes - you generally have to beware that you will probably need to change at Halbeath Park & Ride - you might also need to change again at somewhere like Glenrothes - and you might find yourself just missing a connection and having to wait half-an-hour at one of these locations. 

If you are in Stirling Bus Station and have a bus pass and there is a Megabus about to depart towards Dundee it may make more sense to catch that and change to a 99 for St Andrews than to wait for an X22 and its risky connections...

To travel earlier or later or for these alternative route suggestions we recommend TravelineScotland - remember to "untick train" if you want to search for bus and coach options...

If you were wanting to actually get to places between Kinross and Dollar previously served by the Stagecoach 23 bus route then as of 2nd September 2024 Glenfarg Community Transport are running an hourly service that they have also numbered "23" that joins up with their 55 service between Perth and Kinross via Glenfarg - for more details see: https://glenfargct.co.uk/the-23-bus/

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