YELLOW Buses bosses are being forced to adjust timetables to cope with increased congestion across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

They said roadworks and heavy traffic are disrupting services and forcing people to use alternative forms of transport.

From February 23 there will be changes to the 1, 1a, 1b, 2 and 3 timetables.

Some services will also be withdrawn.

As reported in the Daily Echo, the company has also revealed it will no longer serve Poole bus station due to fears over the safety of staff and passengers.

Commercial Director Simon Newport said: "The roadworks through Pokesdown and Boscombe and delays around Cooper Dean have caused considerable disruption to our services.

“We felt it imperative that the timetables should reflect the delays caused by this extra congestion in order that we continue to provide the best possible and most reliable service for passengers.

“The congestion has also led to a loss of revenue due to some customers deciding to travel in different ways. This needs to be offset against savings elsewhere along with the additional cost of adding more time to journeys.

“As a result we have tried to come up with a robust set of timetables to last for the foreseeable future or until the traffic problems get worse again.”

Three services will be withdrawn. The school bus 111 between Hurn and Twynham School will be provided by another operator under BCP Council tender after the February half-term.

Route 19, operating on Saturdays from Bournemouth to Tower Park, and route 2h, between Christchurch and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital from Monday to Friday, will be stopped.

Both routes had been added to the timetable as an experiment and Mr Newport said: "Unfortunately, usage of both services has not really taken off and therefore they will be withdrawn. We hope to work in conjunction with our stakeholders again in the future to provide new links where appropriate."

Yellow Buses will now serve Poole railway station instead of the bus station when timetable changes come into effect.

Mr Newport said: "We have been concerned about problems of anti-social behaviour in the bus station for some time.

“The safety and comfort of our customers and staff is paramount and we took the decision that we could serve Poole better with a different route.

“The bus station was not working for us in a number of ways and we felt we could link better with the railway station and provide customers with a more convenient service.”

The new timetables can be found on the Yellow Buses website and downloaded. The company hopes to have timetable booklets available from the travel shop from February 17.

The additional summer open top routes run by Yellows will be advertised separately when they start at Easter.