THE only bus service to include Boscombe Pier and a nearby doctor's surgery on its route has run for the final time.

Operated by Yellow Buses, the number 41 single decker bus has been running three times a week on weekdays between Boscombe Beach, Shelley Manor Medical Centre, Bournemouth Crematorium, Castlepoint and Throop.

Bournemouth Council made the decision to withdraw funding for the service following a public consultation which ran in May.

In a Yellow Buses-branded poster on the bus stop by the pier, it read: "The number 41 will no longer operate to this stop from August 28, 2016.

"We appreciate that this is not the news that you were hoping for but unfortunately the removal of the subsidy means that providing the number 41 in this area is not commercially viable due to the low number of fare-paying passengers."

Bus passengers who got on the bus on the final day at Boscombe Pier spoke of their sadness that they would no longer be able to use the service.

They included Cllr Phil Stanley-Watts, who represents the Boscombe West ward, said: "I'm not questioning the number 41 bus route. I am questioning that it was the last bus service to run to Boscombe Pier.

"I had a quibble with Yellow Buses over whether they could divert some of their buses to Boscombe Pier. People have also said to me that some of the buses should divert to Shelley Manor."

Clive Bunting, 65, from Boscombe, said: "It's disgusting. There are plenty of buses which run from Castlepoint to Bournemouth Station but we could do with a bus which diverts down Southcote Road to Boscombe Pier, even if it was to take people up the hill from the Pier."

Another passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "There's a complex of 70 flats for the elderly in Knyveton Road and it's the only way that we can get to Boscombe Pier.

"Somebody from the council is giving out letters about the Bat Bus service by Sedcat, but it is not an advantage to pay £10 to join and then £5 for a trip, which is the same as getting a taxi."

The letter, which has been seen by Daily Echo, reads: "The Bat Bus service may be of particular interest for residents who are unable to access other bus routes after the ending of the 41 route.

"There is the possibility that the Bat Bus may be able to provide a set route once or twice a week to cover some of the areas where a number of residents regularly used the 41 route. The viability of any such route will of course depend on demand."