Many elderly people will be unable to do their weekly food shop as another popular bus route is axed.
News that the R8 shopperbus service by Mullany’s will be scrapped on April 1, comes just ten days after it was announced that their 346 service is likely to be cut.
The R8, which connects Bedmond, Abbots Langley, Kingswood and Nascot Village to Sainsbury’s, ASDA and Watford town centre, is popular with elderly residents living in sheltered accommodation at Tanners Wood Court, in Oak Green.
Each Thursday, the residents use the service to do their weekly food shop and without it, it’s feared they will become isolated and cut-off from affordable food.
Ken Runciman, of Furtherfield, Abbots Langley, regularly uses the service and said he worries about elderly people who have few other transport options.
READ MORE: 'Extremely popular' Mullany's bus service faces the axe
He said: “These people don’t have much access to the shops otherwise; there isn’t really any other alternative. It’s their lifeline.
“It’s also a social outing for these people – they enjoy getting the bus on a Thursday to go shopping together.
“Other services in the area aren’t very reliable – you can be waiting more than an hour and a half for a bus some days. And other bus stops are too far for older people, many with mobility problems, to walk to.
“In this economic climate, services are just shrinking and shrinking.”
Mr Runciman said he is hoping that Mullany’s will consider keeping the service, even if it only runs once or twice he week. He also said himself and other residents are considering starting a petition to save it.
Last week, the Observer reported that the 346 service, which runs from the Meriden and Tudor estates to Watford town centre, would be cut before the end of March.
Mullany’s has been contacted for a comment.
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