A RESIDENT has attacked the flaws in a new bus company timetable, saying it makes accessing Cirencester Hospital “twice as hard”.

Sara Radway, of Chesterton Lane, Cirencester, contacted the Standard with concerns about Stagecoach’s 51/51A service which connects Cheltenham to Swindon via Cirencester.

The newly published timetable, Ms Radway said, is riddled with mistakes and was issued “very late and in a dribble of small numbers”.

She went on to deride the choice of route which she said passes through some streets too narrow for buses and means some passengers must wait for their lift on the wrong side of the road.

The leaflet detailing the new service was distributed from October 26 and available on Stagecoach’s website beforehand. Staff were available to answer customer queries in Cirencester during the same week.

Ms Radway also sent a letter to the Standard to warn people about the gaff.

“For many years I have valued the Stagecoach bus service to and from Stratton and Chesterton, and to and from Swindon and Cheltenham,” she said.

“After changing the route Stagecoach print timetables (in very tiny print) which are not always correct. One example of a mistake is that the current Stagecoach 51/51A bus timetable claims to set up and pick up St Peter’s Church in Market Place.

“St Peter’s Church is in St Peter’s Road. The church in Market Place is the church of St John the Baptist.”

She added, however, that she had nothing but praise for the bus drivers.

Nathan Griffith-Williams, marketing manager at Stagecoach West said: "Like all businesses, from time to time we take a look at our network to determine which services are most in demand and which have fewer passengers using them. This is to ensure we are providing the kind of services that reflect the travel habits of our customers.

“As a result we have launched our new service 51A, to complement service 51 by creating two buses every hour between Cirencester and Swindon. Our new service connects the estate to not only the town centre but also Cricklade and Swindon every hour on weekdays, as well every two hours on Sundays.

"We are working with Gloucestershire County Council to establish new permanent bus stops that are suitable for both our passengers and our buses and we will introduce Wi-Fi to our new journeys on the service in the near future.”