PASSENGERS have complained that a timetable review has doubled their journey times by increasing the length of a bus route.

Thelma Padget stopped using the service after it took more than an hour to travel the ten miles to Middlesbrough town centre from Stokesley.

The 66-year-old, of Stokesley, said: "What once was a 30-minute service now can take well over an hour if the bus hits all the traffic lights as it comes in to the town.

"People have more or less given up on the service.

"If one of the two remaining services could be changed to a more direct route, then people would start to get on the bus again.

"It is just ridiculous, I can get to York quicker than I can get to Middlesbrough. We are permanently being told to use public transport more often, but when the services are this poor, it is no wonder people would rather drive."

Christine Ridgeway, also of Stokesley, said: "One hour 30 minutes from my home to Middlesbrough -that's a three-hour round trip. I now understand why people do not use buses."

John Fozzard, of Arriva, said the changes were part of major changes to the company's services.

He said: "How people travel has changed.

"We based the network needs to reflect how the majority of people want to travel.

"There is a small proportion of people who are not happy, but for the majority of people, the new network has provided fantastic, quick routes to get from Stockton to Middlesbrough."

He said the company had examined how each service was used prior to the changes, and added: "If there was a substantial amount using that route that would have been taken in to account, but if it was not being used, then the changes have reflected that."