Arriva has reversed its decision to stop the 101 Little Wymondley bus service calling at Lilley in Hertfordshire.

Since June 2, the route between Stevenage and Luton - previously one of only two routes going through Lilley - has not been stopping in the village.

Instead, it has only been serving Little Wymondley bypass.

But that will change from September 22, as Arriva have chosen to reinstate the service following an outcry from residents. From that date, the 101 service will run using its old route, stopping in Lilley.

A spokesperson from Arriva South said September 22 is "the earliest possible opportunity" for them to revert to the previous route.

They said: "We made some network changes in June based on making improvements to the reliability of the 101 service.

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"Since then, we have been contacted by villagers and we have listened to customers’ feedback.

"One of our values at Arriva is that we do the right thing and we’re doing that by listening to customers and working hard behind the scenes to work out what may be possible.

"We recognise the importance of local buses in connecting rural communities.

"As a commercial bus operator and a large local employer, we also have an obligation to our colleagues who depend on our commercial sustainability for their livelihoods, and striking this balance can be difficult.

"In the current challenging economic climate, we need people to use rural bus services to safeguard their future and that we cannot operate services which do not pick up enough passengers to cover their costs of operation."

Arriva had previously said that there were "not enough passengers to cover the cost of serving the village".

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the bus route had stopped calling at Little Wymondley rather than Lilley. The article has now been corrected.