ANGRY residents are seething at the latest changes to Barrhead's bus timetable.

Raging locals are fighting back against Arriva after the company cut the number of service stops in Auchenback.

The number three route now loops around the area instead of visiting all the streets and users claim that the cutbacks are causing big problems.

Regular passengers have accused Arriva of providing them with no information about the change in service times and of leaving them stranded at bus stops.

Whilst the popular service three served several parts of the community, the new route makes it impossible to board a bus anywhere other than Aurs Drive, Patterton Drive or Newton Avenue.

Annoyed commuters say that the lack of posters and display information has left them feeling abandoned by the bus company.

Several of them have even had to rely on the kindness of strangers to learn about changes in designated stops.

Local resident Irene Simpson is furious at Arriva's decision to miss out half of Auchenback in the new bus route and is keen for them to reverse their decision.

She said: "The bus only goes halfway down Aurs Drive.

"The company won't talk to us at all.

"The buses don't stop to pick up and the first stop you can get off is all the way down Auchenback.

"I don't know what their idea is but they must have lost passengers.

"I don't understand why they made these changes to this service and it's very confusing.

"I know that a lot of people were asking for the bus to go in the town but not instead of dropping them near their house.

"I've had to explain the change of route to my son who gets the bus with his carer all the time.

"He's so used to the previous one that he's finding it difficult to cope with the changes and I'm worried he'll end up staying on too long or getting off and not knowing where he is." And local woman Rita Connelly is also looking for answers.

The regular ARC user wants Arriva to explain the reasons for changing the service.

Rita said: "They never consulted with us.

"We are the eye of the community and they never contacted us at all and they should have.

"People who use this centre use the buses to get around the town.

"They did the same with the low level buses when they took away the ones with disabled access and put them on to another route. If they don't communicate to us what changes are happening to the services then we can't tell anyone.

"How are we supposed to communicate without information?" Commercial development manager for Arriva, Murray Rogers, said: "On Monday May 10 2010, Arriva made comprehensive improvements to the network which included extending Service 101 from Braehead Shopping Centre to Barrhead every ten minutes.

"Also, due to requests, the Glasgow bound service three was re-routed to operate via Barrhead Centre.

"Various information streams were employed to ensure customers were aware of the changes and if this has not been the case in certain areas we sincerely apologise.

"I will ensure that all local community halls will receive timetables and information immediately."