The Wooler Hoppa bus gets the green light until March following a successful trial period

From December 11, the revised service will operate on the two days each week that proved to be the most popular, Wednesdays and Saturdays, with the flexibility to have days added should there be sufficient demand.

With the bus being needed for school transport on weekdays, the Wednesday service will continue to operate as it has since its launch in July, between 10am and 3pm.

The Saturday service will start earlier and operate for longer, between 9am and 4pm, to help locals access the many shops and services on the High Street as well as weekend activities held in various venues in the town.

The bus also offers excellent connections to the wider services, including Berwick, Alnwick and Newcastle, which operate out of the main Wooler bus station.

The Hoppa Service has been made possible through the work done by Richard Froggatt, the community transport project officer employed by North Northumberland Voluntary Forum with funding through the National Lottery Community Fund.

Richard said: “Many compliments have been made towards the drivers from Glen Valley Tours, who operate the service, applauding their friendly, helpful and flexible attitude toward delivering service excellence.

“In particular, the willingness to stop anywhere along the route to make travel as easy as possible for less-mobile residents has been particularly appreciated.

“Many of the Glen Valley Tours staff are local to Wooler and fully understand the issues some people have with the considerable hills between the High Street and residential areas.”

Northumberland County Council are jointly funding the scheme through funding by the Rural Bus Improvement Scheme funded by the Department for Transport.

The new route takes in additional stops including: Fenton Grange, the Auction Mart and the Industrial Estate, and Kingsmead on Weetwood Road. It also includes an hourly run down to Haugh Head and the parcel pick-up and drop-off at the garage.

The full new timetable is available on North Northumberland Voluntary Forum’s Facebook page, or copies can be picked up from the Cheviot Centre.