LATE night bus services will start to operate between Minehead and Taunton before the end of the month.

From January 23, the last bus on Mondays to Saturdays leaving Castle Way, Taunton, for Minehead will depart at 10.30 pm.

The final departure from Bancks Street, Minehead, will be at 10.25 pm, arriving in Taunton shortly before midnight.

Previously, the last bus to Minehead from Taunton left at 7.30 pm on week days, with the final service departing Bancks Street, Minehead, at 6.55 pm

.Communities along the No 28 bus route will also benefit from the night buses, including Watchet, Williton, Bicknoller, Dunster, Seven Ash, and Washford.

However, bus users in Wiveliscombe were left upset that the town had not been included in the new evening network.

There will also be late night buses serving Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, to help NHS staff travel to and from work.Somerset Bus Partnership (SBP) welcomed the increased evening services, which were being funded with a Government grant for the county council.

A spokesman for the group, which campaigns to promote, increase, and sustain public transport across the county, said it was ‘exciting news’.

SBP said only a limited amount of funding was available, which limited the number of evening routes which could be introduction.

It said the best chance for Wiveliscombe or any other community of attracting an evening bus service was by encouraging more people to use buses and improve bus usage statistics.

SBP said in the past year it had helped to create more bus user groups across Somerset, which now had 11 of them, more than any other county, including in Wiveliscombe.

A county council spokesman said it was hoped the new evening bus services would support people who worked outside of office 9 am to 5 pm hours or who needed to attend training and education courses, and also boost night-time economies in towns on the network.

The council’s transport portfolio holder Cllr Mike Rigby said if people used the new services they would become sustainable in the long-run and permanent.

A £2 fare cap on single bus journeys in Somerset has also been introduced by the Government in a trial due to run until the end of March.

A SBP spokesman said: “If everybody took one more bus journey per month, carbon emissions would be reduced by two million tonnes a year.”