Bus service changes

BUS changes between Thetford and Bury St Edmunds will begin at the end of the August.

Timetable changes will see early buses to Thetford axed and a second service cutting out its stop in the town.

The changes will affect the 332 and 333 services, which are currently operated by bus firm Coach Services and sponsored by Suffolk County Council, from August 31.

The timetable will mean the 333, which runs between Bury and Thetford and calls at Brandon, Santon Downham and some villages, will no longer be sponsored by the council and will terminate at Brandon instead of Thetford.

The 333 will now run as the 193 and it is hoped will serve Brandon roughly once an hour.

Meanwhile, passengers on the 332, which picks up from villages such as Sapiston and Honington, will see the first bus to Thetford cut, with the first service now arriving in the town at 11.07am, while the second bus to Bury will not arrive until 10.07am.

Transport manager for Coach Services Rob Crawford, said: “We've tried our hardest to keep as much in place as possible but bus services have to be tidied up every now and then, and those taking one or two people will be the ones that drop off the timetable.”

A county council spokeswoman said officers were talking to Coach Services in light of several objections, but said that the council-sponsored 332 service only had one vehicle to use, meaning a commuter bus in both directions was impossible.

She added that the sponsorship had originally begun to keep the service going, but that it was now commercially viable enough to run independently of the council.