YELLOW Buses has been urged to consider bringing back a service to Boscombe Pier after it announced the return of open top double deckers.

Boscombe’s seafront has been without a bus service since last year, when Bournemouth council withdrew subsidy for the single-decker that served it three times a week.

Yellow Buses announced recently that it would be running open top buses for the first time in a decade.

Cllr Phil Stanley-Watts, councillor for Boscombe West, says the initiative could be the perfect chance to bring back a service to Boscombe Pier.

He said: “I have been trying to reinstate the Boscombe Pier to town centre buses along Sea Road because there’s a lot of elderly residents that are concerned about it.

“Yellow Buses could add this open top service, at least for the summer, and see what happens.”

He said he would raise the idea with council officers so it could be brought up in talks with the bus operator.

The last bus service to Boscombe Pier was the number 41, which ran three times a week between the beach, Shelley Manor, Bournemouth Crematorium, Castlepoint and Throop. It was axed last August after Bournemouth council withdrew its funding.

Yellow Buses said then that fare-paying passenger numbers were so low that the service was not commercially viable without subsidy.

Cllr Stanley-Watts said there could be support for a service.

“I’ve had quite a few people who came to me and said there were a lot people getting on the bus before,” he said.

“A lot of elderly people used to get the bus to get to town and down to the seafront.”

Paul Wren, commercial director for Yellow Buses, said: “Currently we are reviewing all route options for the open toppers, making sure roads are safe and passable.”

Managing director Andrew Smith said: “The word ‘iconic’ is overused these days but it’s fair to say that open top buses were regarded by locals and tourists as worthy of that description.”