Concern new-look airport bus service will fail

A new-look bus service that links rural holidaymakers and commuters with Stansted Airport has been "set up to fail", a councillor has warned.

Arriva South said it would axe the 133 service running between Braintree and the Essex airport due to lack of demand.

Central Connect has said it will take over the route from 2 June and rebrand it the 333.

But the new company will run a less frequent timetable and Braintree district councillor Ann Hooks said it would create "issues" at either end of the day.

The new operator stressed its service would run as frequently as was "financially viable".

Its first bus of the day would leave Braintree at 05:45 - almost three hours later than the current timetable.

The service stops at villages including Rayne, Felsted and Takeley.

"It is a vital route where I am and for the other villages along the route," said Hook, who lives in Rayne.

"I am really pleased that we will still have bus service and that will be absolutely fine during the daytime, but there are going to be issues at either end of the day."

Central Connect will not run buses on Sundays - unlike the existing timetable - and services on Saturdays have also been reduced to running every three hours between 05:45 and 21:45.

"To only have a bus service that is daylight hours doesn't quite work for the airport and its use," Hooks added.

"Yes we've still got transport and that's great, but it's a lesser service than we had before."

Announcing its takeover, Central Connect said it had analysed passenger usage data before making timetable decisions.

A statement read: "The timetable has been designed to be as sustainable as possible and cover all existing periods that are deemed to be financially viable."

Arriva South previously said it needed to make changes to balance costs.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.