A Park Farm pensioner has spoke of her frustration over Ashford’s Little & Often bus service.

Shirley Chance, 81, has lived in Roman Way for more than 20 years and was a regular passenger on the town’s buses until the smaller vehicles were introduced.

The Little & Often buses starting running in February in a bid to make the journey into the town centre easier and faster, with 10 buses an hour running from Park Farm into town instead of the previous three buses an hour.

However, it appears there are changes from the previous service. The new buses only stop at Park Farm Tesco and along Bluebell Road towards Bridgefield – missing the previous stops along Roman Way.

Mrs Chance said: “We’ve always had a good bus service here. Before the little buses we had the B line three times an hour.

“We thought they would be good because it’s every six minutes but it doesn’t come up our part. It comes into Tesco, turns back and goes up Bluebell Road to Bridgefield instead of coming around the estate like it used to.

“It’s so frustrating. The nearest bus stop for that bus is a 20 minute walk for me. A lot of my friends and I are in our 80s, we cannot walk that far.”

Although the 2a now stops along Roman Way, it only runs once an hour between 9am and 3pm, making the bus service more limited. Mrs Chance said: “They’ve decided we don’t need a bus, well why don’t we?

“It’s not fair that one part of the estate has a bus every six minutes but this side only has one an hour.

“For me the bus is my lifeline” - Mrs Chance

“You can’t go out at night or the weekend because you can’t get back. People who have lived here and worked here their whole lives deserve a good bus service.

“I will have to move because I can’t drive so I can’t get into town or to see my family anymore.

“For me the bus is my lifeline.”

A spokesman from Stagecoach said: “The new route needed to be designed in order to provide a link to Bridgefield.

"In order to achieve that we need to send buses as direct as possible to maintain the very high frequency.”

What are your thoughts on the Little & Often buses? Get in touch at: kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk