BUS passengers in Bournemouth have been warned to expect "substantial disruption" over the next two weeks.

The closure of Poole Hill for major council resurfacing works has forced the conurbations two operators to alter routes and stops for 16 services.

The town centre road is due to be shut from 8am today (Monday, October 18) until 6pm on Monday, November 1.

Both Morebus and Yellow Buses will be shifting services along a diversion route using St Michaels Roundabout, Durley Road South, Durley Roundabout, West Cliff Road and Priory Road.

Yellow Buses told the Daily Echo the works will cause "substantial disruption to our services", particularly those travelling to and from the Triangle.

Simon Newport, commercial director for Yellow Buses, said: "We would like to pass on our sincerest apologies to our customers for the inconvenience this closure will cause. We understand that these works need to be undertaken by the council, and we will do our best to negotiate the best outcome from our customers.’

The 1, 3, 3x, 12, 18, 33, 1N and 3N Yellow Buses services will operate in both directions along the Durley Road South diversion route.

The firm's 4a and 36 will only serve the Triangle and not the Bourne Avenue/Avenue Road area.

Meanwhile, Morebus's M1, M2, 16 and U4 will take the Durley Road South diversion.

Route 20 will divert as above towards Castlepoint and will not serve the entirety of Avenue Road, Bourne Avenue and Braidley Road in this direction. Towards Poole, Route 20 will continue to serve Braidley Road and Bourne Avenue before diverting onto Norwich Avenue and Cambridge Road, before it resumes the normal route from St Michaels Roundabout.

Route 32 will not serve Bournemouth Triangle and will instead finish its route and begin service to Poole from Bournemouth Pier Stand CC.

As reported, BCP Council highways contractors are putting down a “heavy duty road surface” in Poole Hill from Terrace Road - outside Ojo Rojo - to St Michael’s roundabout.

Further road surface improvement works are taking place across the conurbation in the coming months.

Councillor Mike Greene, BCP Council portfolio holder for transport, said: "I realise that there will be disruption to people’s journeys while these works are taking place and ask everyone to try and plan ahead by using alternative routes where possible or leave extra time for journeys that go through these routes.

"We’re committed to our dynamic places objective, supporting an innovative, successful economy and in order to achieve this we need to invest in our infrastructure as it is crucial to our development as the UKs newest city region."