MORE buses are needed to take people to and from a popular south Essex venue.

There are complaints not enough buses are running to Basildon’s Festival Leisure Park, off Cranes Farm Road.

Passengers also say the buses which do go the park are being run at the wrong times.

The only bus which stops is the 237 run by private firm NIBS. This service does not stop at the complex until 9.44am, Monday to Saturday, which is too late for many people who work there.

The latest bus stops at the leisure park at 6.31pm on weekdays and 5.31pm on Saturdays, which is too early for many people who want to eat, go for a drink or visit a nightclub. There are no buses on Sundays.

Carly Colins, 47, of Church View, Laindon, who works at the nearby New Holland tractor plant, said: “For some reason the council seems to think everyone should drive there, but not everyone has a car.

“They built that new bus lane, which was supposed to make it easier to get a bus from the town centre to Festival Leisure Park, but hardly any buses use it.”

A bus lane linking Ghyllgrove to Cranes Farm Road was introduced in 2009, at a cost of around £750,000, to allow buses to travel direct between Festival Leisure Park and the town centre. However, the 237 is the only bus which uses it.

Mrs Colins has written to Stephen Metcalfe, Conservative MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, asking him to pressure Essex County Council to introduce more buses.

He said: “I will look into this on her behalf. It would be great to have more buses, but we have to realise there are commercial constraints on where they can run to and from.”

A spokesman for NIBS said: “Festival Leisure Park is a difficult place to serve with buses. It was built with a massive free car park and is busiest in the evenings, when it is the most expensive time to run buses.

“It would not be viable to provide an evening service. Two other independent operators have offered evening services, but they were withdrawn as they were not economically sustainable.”

Essex County Council said it had no plans for additional bus services to serve the park.