LATE night bus services between Wellington and Taunton will start operating before the end of the month.

From January 23, the last bus on Mondays to Saturdays leaving Castle Way, Taunton, to travel to Wellington will be at 11.05 pm.

The final bus from Wellington High Street to Taunton will be at 11.50 pm, arriving in the county town at 00.10 am.

Previously, the last bus back to Wellington left Taunton at 8 pm on week days, with the final bus departing Wellington High Street for Taunton at 8.45 pm.

This month’s changes also see Cotford St Luke being served by later Taunton to Minehead buses with the last ones leaving Taunton Castle Way at 10.30 pm and departing Minehead Bancks Street at 10.25 pm.

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 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 Wellington and 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.”