PASSENGERS using the buses in Blackburn, Darwen and Hyndburn have been told to expect changes to a number of services from this weekend.

Transdev Lancashire United has announced the changes, aimed at making buses more reliable, which will come into force on Sunday.

Bosses at the firm said improvements were being made across the network with some longer routes being split and additional journeys at peak times.

Richard Jackson, Transdev development director, said: “Following changes to our bus network in Blackburn, Darwen and Hyndburn in September last year, we recognised that we needed to make additional changes to further enhance our service.

“On some routes there are only minor timetable changes, and on others we are putting on extra journeys at peak times.

“In some areas we are changing routes to avoid traffic congestion and delays, and in Blackburn some services will be split to form two separate services to become more reliable.” Changes include the retiming of buses on the Hyndburn Connect services 6/6A and 7/7A, plus additional journeys on weekday mornings.

Some of the biggest changes affect routes around Royal Blackburn Hospital, where passengers regularly experence congestion and lengthy delays.

These services will use an alternative access route into the hospital car park and there will be additional journeys on weekday afternoons on service number two, connecting Blackburn and Darwen via the hospital. The former 124 service connecting Blackburn, Feniscowles, Brinscall and Chorley, which was extended to serve Darwen last September, will be split in Blackburn. The new route will be service 24 New timetables can be viewed online at the site www.lancashirebus.co.uk/times or picked up on the buses.