Passengers' outrage at cancellation of rural bus service

For hundreds of passengers who live in North Norfolk the Konectbus express service that runs between Holt, Sheringham and Cromer into Norwich is the easiest and quickest way to commute to work, school or college. But next month the service will be axed leaving only the Sanders bus service to drive the route.

Konectbus Managing Director, Gavin Hunter, sent us this statement:"We would like to thank everyone who has used our service 2 during the last three years. Our aspiration was to introduce a high quality express bus service between the North Norfolk coast and Norwich. Clearly we were aware of the competition on the corridor and so we set out not to repeat what was already provided but to deliver something fresh to grow the market and deliver an excellent product for customers whilst providing sustainable earnings for Konect.

From the comments we have received it is clear we have succeeded in the first objective but not the second, hence why I took the decision to withdraw the service. Despite busy buses during the peak due to delivering a service our team should be proud of, the reality is that across the whole day, the revenue falls short of covering the cost.

Before and since the decision to withdraw was made, we have looked at a number of potential options to reduce the service provided and reasonably increase fares whilst maintaining a high quality product for our loyal customers. Unfortunately we have been unable to find a workable solution. I am hoping that despite this decision, few of our customers will be unable to find a suitable alternative travel option.

I am bitterly disappointed to have had to make this decision but the launching of service 2 in November 2012 was a bold initiative by us which hasn't succeeded. We are committed to providing a high quality service where to do so is sustainable in the long term and we will continue with this aim.

An online petition, savethe2.co.uk, includes more than a thousand signatures but the company say they will stop running the Number 2 service next month.