A seemingly doomed bus service has been partially reinstated thanks to pressure from a Watford councillor.  

Residents of the Leavesden Green and Kingswood estates faced losing their only bus route when Mullany’s announced plans to cut the R8 service in January.

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However a petition started by Councillor Tim Williams convinced Hertfordshire County Council to take on the service, albeit on a vastly reduced timetable.

The shorter service, which will link the two estates to the North Watford supermarkets at the Dome Roundabout once per day, will be subsidised as a “socially necessary” route.

“We are keeping the pressure on. More senior members of the community are very much reliant on it,” said Cllr Williams.

“We’ve proven the case that there is a demand for it, however we would very much like to re-establish the service into the town centre.

“I’m pleased that we were able to re-establish the service but there is a long way to go, and it is very much a case of use it or lose it.”

Hertfordshire County Council is continuing to monitor usage levels on the service to make sure it is being sufficiently utilised.

In a statement the council said: “Hertfordshire County Council and Three Rivers District Council supported a partial temporary replacement for the R8 service which had been provided on a commercial basis by Mullany’s Coaches before they withdrew it in April, as it was not returning a profit.

“We agreed that we would run this replacement for a trial period to assess the patterns of usage for this service and try and establish a long-term solution.

"We will continue to run the service to meet demand from passengers but will also continue to assess this pattern of usage over time. This is to ensure that this service remains the most cost-effective way to meet the actual demand from the limited number of passengers along this route.”

The 346 Mullany’s service, which ran from the Meriden and Tudor estates to Watford town centre, was also discontinued on March 31 but has not been reinstated.