A COMMUNITY bus service has had its timetable altered after journey delays were making high school students in Ledbury late to lessons. 

From Friday, June 14, the 232 Daffodil Line bus will leave Ledbury Station at 7.20am, ten minutes earlier than usual. 

Clare Stone, chair of service operators Buses4Us, said it had become apparent roadworks combined with morning rush hour traffic was making student passengers at John Masefield High late for school.

Buses4Us bosses said roadworks by the bus station were posing an issue for the service earlier in the year. 

Drivers raised the issue with bosses about the delays to journeys the roadworks were having, and parents later contacted the bus operators expressing concerns. 

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A spokesperson for the firm added: "The process of making a timetable change is quite lengthy - lots of admin hoops to jump through - so we knew the roadworks would probably be finished before we could put the change in place. 

"But it seemed worth doing anyway as there are sure to be more roadworks in the future."

It is expected the change will see a prompt 8am school run departure from Newent.

Buses4Us said this would allow them to arrive at the school for the start of lessons, even if the bus is met with roadworks. 

Miss Stone said most passengers would see no change to their journey times as a result of the new measure. 

She added: "For our student passengers, it's an important improvement. 

“As roadworks somewhere along the route seem destined to be pretty much an everyday occurrence we took the decision, in conjunction with our operator DRM Bus, to amend the timetable.

"Our student passengers are a very important part of the service, they are one of the main reasons the Daffodil Line was established, so it's vital we get things right for them."

There will also be slightly later departures on the Friday and Saturday evening services. 

New timetables are currently being printed and updated information will be available online and at bus stops later this week. 

Buses4Us is a community action group set up in response to drastic rural bus service cuts in early 2022.

A year after the cuts, the 232 Daffodil Line Bus service was launched to restore vital public transport links for local people travelling between Ross-on-Wye, Newent and Ledbury.