Worried residents can breathe a sigh of relief as Hertfordshire County Council and Sullivan Buses will provide a new bus service to cover the majority of the existing 84 service.

Metroline will stop running their St Albans to New Barnet bus service on April 1. Residents reacted strongly to the news, with a petition opposing the measures gaining more than 5,000 signatures in a week and making national news.

Sullivan Buses have agreed to register a new route covering the Potters Bar to St Albans section of the route, which will be run with financial support from Hertfordshire County Council. The new service will begin on 2 April 2022.

Phil Bibby, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport at Hertfordshire County Council, said: “I know residents will be pleased that we’ve been able to find a solution that preserves the majority of the 84 route.

"We’ve listened to the feedback since Metroline announced the closure of the 84 route and we understand how important this service is to local people.

"I am really pleased that we have been able to work through the Intalink Partnership and find a way of continuing to fund this service and maintain this important public transport link in the county. We want to make it easy for people to choose public transport, and funding services like this is one way we can do that.”

More details of the service and timetable will be provided soon. Discussions are continuing with Transport for London about how to provide an alternative link between Potters Bar and Barnet.

For details of bus services in Hertfordshire, including full timetables and route maps, visit www.intalink.org.uk/timetables