Faced with the “nightmare” of losing its local bus service, residents of a Perthshire village decided to take over the route themselves.

The 55 Glenfarg to Kinross service was axed earlier this year after its operators Earnside Coaches retired. But thanks to a group of volunteers and the recruitment of three full-time drivers, the service is back and proving more popular than ever.It now runs an hourly daily service six days a week, starting at 07:10.

Glenfarg Community Transport Group said the 55 service now enjoys about 300 passenger journeys per week, an increase of 200 on last year. Group chairman Drew Smart said: “Behind those 300 journeys every week, there are 300 stories.

“It’s a great bus to be on, the banter, the number of problems we solve or try to solve. “It’s not about buses, it’s really about people.”

Drew said running the service themselves gives the route a flexibility it did not have in the past. He said: “We’ve got a few people, because of mobility issues, we don’t expect them to come to the bus stop, we’ll come into the village and pick them up at the door.

“When we get into Kinross we’ll drop them at the door of where they’re going. “The drivers are brilliant, they go well above and beyond.”

One of the passengers, Kareen Macgregor, agrees. She said: “I don’t drive so it was a nightmare before. We needed the service. It’s great, everybody loves it.”