395 bus service to be axed

A local bus service that has been running for a century is being axed at the end of the month.

The 395 Hertford and Ware circular service is being discontinued and replaced with an extended service provided by route 323.

The 395 runs from Bentley Road on the Sele Farm Estate to Fanham Common in Ware, including stops at Hertford North railway station, Mill Road and Ware College. However, the service does not include Hertford bus station.

From the beginning of September the route will be covered by an extention of the 323 Welwyn Garden City to Hertford service. This will feature an extended route from Sele Farm to Fanham Common, operating every 30-minutes Mondays to Saturdays. An hourly Sunday service will operate Hertford, Sele Farm to Ware, Fanham Common only via Hertford North Railway Station, Hertford bus station and Pinehurst. The 323 also provides a link to the QEII hospital in Walwen Garden City.

The 323 will no longer serve Riversmeet, Campfield Road or Turpins Close.

Concerns have been raised about the limited one-way service to Welwyn on the Blakemore Manor estate - so no service to Hertford town centre; and the overall reliability and punctuality of the service.

The 300 series of bus numbers was introduced in the 1920s and many of those routes are still running today, although most have been altered in the intervening years.