RECENT reports of students from Ross-on-Wye struggling to get to college in Hereford by bus, following the recent withdrawal of additional service has led to a senior figure at Hereford sixth Form College saying this is ‘frustrating’.

Phil Tranter, deputy principal of Hereford Sixth Form College said: “In summer we were promised by Stagecoach that it would put on two early morning buses until the October half-term, with Herefordshire Council paying for the extra bus.

“We want that all the time. But Stagecoach have said they can’t meet that.”

He acknowledged that in previous years students’ use of this and other services tends to decline after the start of the academic year, while during their second A-Level year, as some students succeed in passing their driving tests.

“But they haven’t dropped to the extent that the second bus isn’t needed,” Mr Tranter said. “You can’t be paying a thousand pounds for a pass and have the bus drive past you.”

He said he was told by Herefordshire Council that it does not have the authority to require Stagecoach to put on the service. And despite also asking the local and parents themselves to also put pressure on the bus company, “it doesn’t seem to work”, he said.

“It’s crazy – why wouldn’t you keep this popular service on for longer?”

Stagecoach and Herefordshire Council have said they are working together to address passengers’ concerns.

Last week Michelle Hughes, mother of a Ross teenager said that now there is only one bus at the peak time her daughter is unable to get on board because the buses arrive from Gloucester already full.

“And when they leave Ross, the students are crammed in. There are many more stops between Ross and Hereford that it just drives past,” she said.

On the days when her daughter can’t get on the bus, Ms Hughes has to drive her daughter into Hereford.