BUS company Stagecoach has announced timetable changes in south Devon which come into force next month.

Across the network, the changes, which come into force on April 5, have been made, the firm says, to ‘strengthen punctuality and improve overall service reliability’

Running times have been carefully reviewed and adjusted where necessary to better reflect prevailing traffic conditions and journey patterns, helping services operate more consistently and reducing the risk of delays.

On selected routes, frequencies have also been refined to better match customer demand throughout the day, ensuring resources are deployed where they are needed most while maintaining connectivity for local communities.

The updates form part of Stagecoach’s 'ongoing commitment to delivering a dependable, high-quality bus network’ across the South West, responding to customer feedback and continuous performance monitoring to ‘ensure services remain fit for purpose’.

Service changes for customers in Tavistock and the surrounding area are as follows.

Service 84 Holsworthy to Tavistock

Following a review of the current Service 85 between Barnstaple and Tavistock, Service 85 will be revised to operate between Barnstaple and Holsworthy / Bridgerule only.

Customers using the section of route between Holsworthy and Tavistock will be able to use new Service 84, however, please note that Services 84 and 85 do not provide guaranteed connections at Holsworthy.

Service 84 will follow the same route as the current Service 85 between Holsworthy and Tavistock and will provide Monday to Saturday departures from Holsworthy at 0945, 1245 and 1840, with departures from Tavistock at 0835, 1130, 1430 (to Milton Abbot / Launceston) and 1730.

Service 87/87A Tavistock to Bere Ferrers and Bere Alston, the 0910 journey from Berres Ferrers to Tavistock will be re-timed to depart at 0912, which follows requests from customers.

Service 118 Tavistock to Okehampton, there are a number of changes to the route and timetable of Service 118, which will deliver a number of improvements to the timetable.

Following requests from local residents, three journeys in each direction Monday to Saturday will now additionally serve Bridestowe.

Service 1 Plymouth to Tavistock via Derriford Hospital and George Park and Ride there are minor timetable changes to improve reliability and punctuality, including additional recovery time at Royal Parade in Plymouth.

There are some minor changes to the Monday to Friday early morning timetable, with one journey in each direction removed from the timetable.

Peter Knight, Managing Director of Stagecoach South West, said: ‘As we prepare for the transformation of our fleet with the introduction of 110 electric vehicles, it is equally important that our network is scheduled to operate as efficiently and reliably as possible.

‘By refining timetables to better reflect real-world conditions and aligning services more closely with customer demand, we are strengthening punctuality and improving overall reliability.

‘These changes will help us deliver more consistent, dependable services for our customers and the communities we are proud to serve every day.’

Customers can find full details of the changes, including updated timetables and journey planning tools, on the Stagecoach website and via the Stagecoach app.