THE importance of Dartmouth’s town centre bus service was highlighted at a packed meeting in the Clifton Room of the Guildhall.

More than 80 people were present last Thursday evening to voice their concerns to bus operator Stagecoach over changes to the service.

Cllr David Gent who chaired the meeting of Dartmouth Transport Group said there was a call for extra buses to be put on at peak times in the morning, lunch time and evening.

Passengers have been left stranded at stops with buses running late or in some cases not turning up at all.

People at Townstal have been most affected by the distruption which has hit the number 90 town centre bus as well as the 3 service which runs along the A379 from Dartmouth to Kingsbridge and then to Plymouth.

Stagecoach said at the time it had experienced some breakdown problems but was taking on more drivers.

Dartmouth Town Council was so worried about the situation it has considered contacting the Traffic Commissioner for the West of England, who is responsible for the licensing and regulation of bus operators.

Cllr Gent said a representative from Stagecoach said inspectors had been looking at the service since the complaints.

He said the transport group would continue to work with the bus company to try to iron out the problems and report back on its findings to a meeting on Thursday, October 13.

A representative from Devon County Council gave assurances that there were no plans to reduce subsidies on out of town buses, he added.

Cllr Gent said it had been a constructive meeting and he was pleased so many people had come along. ‘Comments and questions lasted for about an hour and a half,’ he said. ‘Most concerns centred around cuts to the service.

‘Generally people were satisfied with the drivers but there was a lot of frustration about other contributing factors, such as temporary traffic lights on the road into Dartmouth.’