A CHANGE to a bus route has met with a storm of protest.
More than 100 people have signed a petition against the change which means people living in Dyserth will struggle to get to Glan Clwyd Hospital.
Arriva’s number 13 bus between Prestatyn and Llandudno is used by residents wanting to get to the hospital, but the route has been altered to miss out a stop at the top of Waterfall Hill, which could cause difficulties, particularly for those people with limited mobility.
Cllr Peter Owen, who represents Dyserth on Denbighshire County Council, is to hand in a petition with more than 100 signatures protesting at the change to Arriva.
Cllr Owen said: “I had heard a rumour that they were stopping the 13 bus from going through town, but I phoned them to ask if there was any truth to this and they said not.
Now they’ve gone and stopped it.”
Barry Mellor, Arriva’s general manager, said the stop was taken off the route because it reduced the service’s reliability.
Mr Mellor said: “Service 13 reverted back to its original route following a review of the reliability of the service while it included the additional stop in Dyserth.
“Unfortunately the inclusion of the additional stop reduced service reliability for customers and meant it was not practical to retain it. We notified the council of the change back to the original route which took effect from 30 May 2010.”
But Cllr Owen the need of local residents to have access to public transport taking them to Glan Clwyd should take priority.
“If only two or three need to get the bus, then it should still be available. Arriva said there wasn’t enough people getting on it, but if there are only two getting on then they still need to get to hospital.”
“They now have to get another bus and change at Ruddlan, but it would just take three minutes to travel up the hill and collect them.”