A DATE has been given for the start of a vital community bus service.

Last month it was announced the number 21 bus service would be reinstated thanks to funding from Swindon Council.

The temporary service, which will start on Monday, April 30, has returned after there was a public uproar when it was announced the service was being cut at Christmas.

The council said it would pay £14,994 for the bus firm to provide an off-peak service for Coleview and the Penhill Valley for up to a year while long-term solutions are sought.

Thamesdown Transport announced at the beginning of this year it was scrapping service 23, which runs through Coleview, along with service 21, because they were no longer commercially viable.

Scores of elderly residents attended a meeting last month to express their anger over a cut to the bus service in Coleview, and a petition with more than 600 signatures was gathered.

The new Service 21 will combine the two routes and will run between Penhill and Stratton Park on Mondays to Saturdays at off-peak times via Pinehurst, Gorse Hill, Ocotal Way (Tesco), Fleming Way, Greenbridge Retail Park, Covingham Square and Coleview.

The first service will leave Stratton Park at 10.18am, with the last service heading back from the town centre to Stratton Park at 2.30pm.

When the temporary route was announced last month, residents said it was a step in the right direction but they still wanted a permanent service.

Penhill resident Jim Hayes, 75, has campaigned to keep the number 21 service and said the change was a big boost.

He said: “It is good news.The loss of the service hit a lot of people hard financially as they have had to get taxis to places because they can’t walk there.

“It is good to hear about the Saturday service because a lot of people go out shopping on a Saturday.

“I know the cutbacks are severe and we have got to keep on petitioning to get a much-needed service back in Penhill.”

Route details and bus times are available from the Thamesdown Travel Shop in Fleming Way, Swindon, which is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5.30pm and Saturday from 9am to 5pm.

More information on the new Service 21, as well as Thamesdown’s other routes and services, is also available at www.thamesdownbus.com