Cheltenham gets additional Stagecoach bus routes in the evenings

Stagecoach will provide the additional services on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights

Additional evening bus services are being introduced in Cheltenham.

From 7 January, four additional Stagecoach routes will operate in the Gloucestershire town.

The services will run until around 01:00 GMT on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday evenings, they will run until between 22:00 and 23:00.

Rachel Geliamassi, Managing Director at Stagecoach West, said: "We're taking strides to bring improved connectivity and convenience to our community."

The additional services are aimed at supporting Cheltenham's evening economy by allowing residents to stay out later, knowing they will have a bus to take them home, and giving more travel options to shift workers, Gloucestershire County Council said.

The routes to get additional evening buses are route A from Hester's Way to Prestbury, C from Cheltenham Town Centre to Fiddler's Green, D from Hatherley to Bishops Cleeve and 41 from Cheltenham to Tewkesbury and Northway.

'Greater convenience'

It comes after the county council received a grant of more than £4.4m from the Department for Transport, which will be given over two years.

Councillor Philip Robinson, cabinet member with responsibility for buses, said: "I'm pleased to see these extra services being provided thanks to the funding we have received from the Department for Transport.

"They will help Cheltenham's evening economy and provide greater convenience for residents and shift workers.

"This is the first phase of a larger programme of bus service improvements coming to many parts of Gloucestershire, continuing our commitment to improving and supporting the many bus services we have in the county."