PEOPLE power has put the brakes on a plan to scrap a valuable bus service in Bury.

Campaigners have won a reprieve for the under-threat 479 bus which serves a large area of Walmersley, including Chesham, Limefield and the Littlewood Estate.

In just 72 hours, bus users from the local community held a meeting, started a petition and launched a survey, the results of which were submitted to a meeting of Transport for Greater Manchester's (TfGM) bus network committee.

Now,with the help of a vital subsidy, the service run by Rossendale Transport will continue to operate between Monday and Friday, although the 479 will no longer run on Saturdays.

Mrs Janet Brady, of Chesham Road, one of the leading campaigners, has welcomed the decision.

She said: "We’re all so pleased and delighted. We have a fantastic, small community here and everyone who uses this bus talks to each other. This was all down to people power and also to the help we got from councillors and the MP.

"Earlier this month a supervisor said he had some bad news and that the service was going to stop on July 19. There had been no consultation or official notification made. Many people thought this was outrageous and wondered how they'd get to the hospital, the shops, the doctor and the dentist. One old lady became quite depressed and said she'd have to move."

But Mrs Brady and fellow campaigners, Tony Ramsden, Sheila Shorrocks and Rita Marston, swung into action and their petition soon gathered 103 signatures.

She said: "Sam Tysoe at TfGM said the problem was that the bus isn't used enough. But the feedback from our 103 people showed that 380 journeys are made in the morning and 180 in the afternoon. So, the bus is used five times a week on average by each person.

"The point made most often and strongly was that life would be extremely difficult without this bus. Cutting the bus would result in physical strain clearly, but the damage would be done emotionally and socially to the folk in our community. The 'Chessy Flyer' brightens many lives."

The campaigners also won support from the Mayor of Bury, Cllr Stella Smith, council leader Mike Connolly and fellow councillors Dot Cassidy, Sarah Southworth and Sandra Walmsley as well as Nabila Afilal on behalf of Bury North MP David Nuttall.

TfGM officials said they were told by Rossendale Transport that it was withdrawing the Monday to Saturday daytime hourly 479 commercial services from July 19. However, TfGM has stepped in to provide a subsidy towards the Monday to Friday journeys at existing times — but not to replace the Saturday service due to lower passenger numbers.

They say around 80 per cent of bus services in Greater Manchester are operated commercially, with the remaining 20 per cent run with financial support from TfGM.

A spokeswoman for TfGM said: “We remain committed to providing excellent public transport and protecting essential bus services as far as possible. Through careful management of our budget we are pleased to have been able to fund Rossendale Transport to run a continuing daytime 479 service on Monday to Friday daytimes.”