A PETITION calling for planned cuts to bus services in the Newent and Ross area to be abandoned has reached more than 1,250 signatures.

The petition was started by friends Violet Hill and Bryce Elwine who live in Newent and are pupils at John Kyrle High School in Ross.

Bus company Stagecoach West says a drop in the number of passengers means the 32 and 132 services between Newent, Ross and Ledbury are running at a loss.

Timetable changes due to come into force at the end of this month would mean the last bus from Ross to Newent would be in the middle of the afternoon and services to Ledbury would be cut entirely.

Violet, who is 15, said: “I am a regular user of the service, I use it to get to school and meet my friends, most of whom live near Ross

“When I found out about the changes I was absolutely devastated.

“A relative, who was with me at the time, suggested I start a petition – I had never started a petition before about anything and I knew almost nothing about bus funding.

“My good friend Bryce had been interested in buses his whole life, and helped me write the description of the petition and the poster and he has done most of the emails to officials as well.”

The petition was launched on the website change.org on Friday, January 28 and had 300 signatures on the same day and 1,000 within a week.

As the Review went to press on Thursday, it had amassed 1,258 signatures.

Violet added: “Going into it I had no plan or expectation that it would get to many signatures. It just shows how many people care about these buses.

“The changes to these buses will disproportionately affect the elderly, youth, disabled, and poor, as it cuts them off from being able to reach the nearby larger towns of Ross on Wye and Ledbury.”

She says they are now more focused on what to do now and whether any change will come of it.

The proposed changes have also been criticised by local councillors.

Gloucestershire County Councillor Gill Moseley (Lib Dem, Newent) said the short notice of the changes is appalling.

“I am devastated about the short notice of the cuts and the cuts themselves,” she said.

“The notice is appalling. Because they are not subsidised routes, Gloucestershire County Council has no obligation to contact anyone in the community to let them know.

“The notices of the cuts have only reached people through others who have seen it on the website, Twitter which is not everyone’s go to place for information or Facebook.”

Residents in Dymock are also very concerned about the bus service removal.

District councillor Roger Yeates (Ind, Dymock) said: “There are quite a few who still use it in the village. People are very upset about it

“Kids in the morning were going to school in Newent on it and coming home in the afternoon on it.

“Quite a few older people still use it to get to Newent but since Covid a lot have not used it as much because many were frightened to go out.”

He said Stagecoach is a commercial firm and if they do not make a profit they will not run the service.

Stagecoach said: “The Covid pandemic has significantly reduced the number of people using these routes, with buses north and west of Newent running at a loss.

“As a result, we’ll no longer be running between Newent and Ledbury, and continuing only a school and shopper link between Newent and Ross-on-Wye. Buses between Newent and Gloucester will still run hourly as 32, with a slightly revised timetable.”

There are also changes planned to the 24 between Chepstow, Cinderford and Gloucester, the 35 from Gloucester to Coleford and Monmouth and the 746 from Ross to Cinderford.

The 6.25am 24 from Blakeney and Cinderford to Gloucester will run 10 minutes earlier; the 5.20pm from Gloucester will run 20 minutes later and as far as Cinderford only and the 5.55pm from Cinderford to Gloucester will run 40 minutes later at 6.35pm

Most buses on service 35 will run along Station Road and Tufthorn Avenue in Coalway and Milkwall, not Coalway Road.

The first morning bus to Monmouth will start at Ruardean, not Ross-on-Wye, and the 6.50pm from Monmouth will run only as far as Milkwall.

The 5.22pm Monday to Friday service 746 from Cinderford will finish at Ruardean instead of Ross and the 1.22pm Saturday journey from Cinderford will leave at 1.07pm.

To sign the 32/132 petition go to www.change.org/p/save-our-32-132-buses.