CHANGES are to be made to the route of a community bus service which will mean shorter and more regular trips to a town centre.

Bridport Town Council has revised the route and timetable for its Service 7, breaking the existing circular journey into three smaller sections.

The new route will visit the town centre more regularly, made possible by removing the trip to and from West Bay. The X53 is meeting demand in the West Bay area, according to the council. The bus will also now visit Bridport Community Hospital.

The changes need to be registered with the Traffic Commissioner, which can take several weeks, so the new service isn’t expected until late February.

Council leader, Cllr Sarah Williams, said: “We’ve listened to feedback on the service we started last August and people said they’d like to see the bus visit the town centre more than once on its way round. We’re really pleased to have got the bus up and running, and we hope these changes will improve passenger numbers further to secure the service for the future.”

Service 7 is currently operated by First Wessex on behalf of the town council under a pilot scheme which ends in August, when the council will decide whether to continue. Since its launch in August 2018, councillors have warned it’s a ‘use it or lose it’ service and have been keen to see it succeed, waiving fares throughout December to encourage use.