A new six day a week bus service has launched in Beccles, providing vital transport for local residents.

Beccles & Bungay Journal: Doreen Clark with Bus driver Andy Dell. PHOTO: Nick ButcherDoreen Clark with Bus driver Andy Dell. PHOTO: Nick Butcher (Image: ©archant2016)

BorderBus stepped forward to offer the town service after Anglian Bus announced in June it would be cutting its 82 service, which went into Beccles through Worlingham, from six days a week down to just one, as it was no longer commercially viable.

And after a petition was started by local residents, headed up by Nicholson Drive resident Doreen Clark, BorderBus came up with a new timetable to fill the void.

The Beccles Town Service, which officially started on Monday, offers four trips a day from Monday to Saturday mornings.

Mrs Clark said: “I’ve used it every day this week so far.

“We are over the moon with it, we just can’t express our thanks enough.

“Everyone has said to me ‘well done Doreen you’ve done a great job’ but I couldn’t have done it without the help of all the other passengers. And Chris Punt and Graham Elliott have really supported it too.”

BorderBus managing director Andrew Pursey, said he knew it was an “essential service” for local people.

However he said that, based on his estimations, the route would lose the company on average £18 per day due to the way bus operators are reimbursed for concessionary travel passes.

The company has been awarded a contract from Suffolk County Council to take on another school run from September. And Mr Pursey said he hoped that income, coupled with a small predicted rise in the number of passengers paying a full fare, would make the route commercially viable to run.

And Mrs Clark said quite a few people had already paid the fare to help.

The new service stops at Beccles Old Market, Park Drive, Rectory Lane, Manor Close, Garden Lane, Hillside Avenue, Cedar Drive, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Oak Lane, Banham Road, Rigbourne Hill, High Leas, Townlands Drive, Darby Road, St Annes Road and London Road for the health centre.

Timetables are available from www.border-bus.co.uk