Stagecoach are set to switch to a new timetable for their number 11 buses.

The regular number 11 bus service, which operates between Ardrossan, Kilwinning, Irvine and Kilmarnock, will swap to a new timetable on November 5.

This will reduce the service to every 10 minutes from its previous promise of every 7/8 minutes.

Following the news, North Ayrshire Labour are calling for radical reforms of our bus market.

Irvine Labour Councillor Robert Foster said: “A reduction of up to 30 per cent in the frequency of the Number 11, the most profitable bus route in Ayrshire, is yet another sign of a broken bus market that is failing to deliver for local communities.

"North Ayrshire Labour have set out ambitions for a Municipal Bus Service, a not-for-profit model run by North Ayrshire Council which would allow bus services to be shaped based on community need rather than shareholder returns.

However, the current drafting of the Scottish Government’s Transport Bill would make the ambition almost impossible – only allowing councils to run services that private bus companies don’t want to run.

Cllr Foster said: “Recent years have seen a whole host of local bus services in North Ayrshire cut by Stagecoach in their thirst to deliver financial profits to their private shareholders. These cuts are not without impact, with many vulnerable people now more socially isolated than ever before.

“Now it appears that even the most profitable route aren’t safe from their cuts.