Torbay Council has successfully worked with Torbay Buses to ensure that a local bus service is still able to cover a key area of Torquay, following the axing of a bus route by Stagecoach due to a large reduction in people using the service.
On 28 May Stagecoach removed the Service 35A/35C from Fowey Avenue and a section of Exe Hill, partly to reduce the time taken for the route but also due to the number of passengers using the route only being at around 55% of 2018/19 levels of use. The Council does not have direct control of bus services and the 35A/35C was commercially operated by Stagecoach so the decline in passenger numbers meant it was no longer viable for them.
Following a number of negotiations, the Council has successfully agreed with Torbay Buses – who operate a Sainsburys bus route SB6 which ran nearby – to incorporate Exe Hill and Fowey Avenue as part of their route.
Councillor Chris Lewis, Deputy Leader of Torbay Council, said: “Although we are obviously disappointed that the Service 35A/35C is no longer able to serve Fowey Avenue and Exe Hill, we are pleased that we have managed to get the SB6 bus route amended to incorporate these roads so that local residents in that area can still get buses on a few days of the week.
Darren Watts, Managing Director of Torbay Buses said: “We are delighted to work with Torbay Council to adapt the routing of the SB6 service in order to incorporate Exe Hill and Fowey Avenue. We are proud to be a local company serving the local community.”
The SB6 will run the new updated route incorporating Fowey Avenue and Exe Hill from 24 July and it will operate on Mondays (except Bank Holidays), Wednesdays and Thursdays. The bus will operate in an anticlockwise direction for both inward and outward journeys.
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