HUNDREDS of people have signed a petition calling on Yellow Buses not to axe a bus linking north Bournemouth residents with Castlepoint and the hospital.

The bus company has announced an overhaul of its network from April 8.

Kinson, West Howe and East Howe would lose a direct service to Castlepoint and Royal Bournemouth Hospital, forcing passengers to change at Charminster.

Yellow Buses says the route is losing money, but that there will be an early morning bus for hospital staff.

A petition started by local Duane Farr quickly gained 350 signatures. Mr Farr said the loss of the buses would make life harder for residents, despite the company’s insistence that the services are not viable.

“It certainly makes things more difficult. I have OAPs in mind particularly,” he said.

“The buses were used quite a bit in the daytime from what I saw when I was on them. I think they should consult people a bit better bout the routes like that one, which is for the hospital in particular.”

Yellow Buses managing director David Squire, who has been tasked with turning around the loss-making company, said: “The company tried to make a credible service out of this link. That hasn’t worked and in fact those routes are carrying around 200 people a day and operate at a significant loss.

“Following discussions with Royal Bournemouth Hospital, we have put in a couple of early morning journeys because there are some particular points where there are people commuting very early in the morning across to the hospital.

“Once you’ve dealt with that, for the general part of the day it’s a very little used service, however we are discussing with our partners at Bournemouth council whether there is anything further that can be done.”