IT'S TYPICAL - you wait ages for a bus and then 80 a day turn up. Residents in a quiet Cwmbran street used to have ten regular bus services a day.

One bus every hour to the town centre was ideal for a quick trip to the shops.

Then earlier this month bus operators Stagecoach cancelled the service and replaced it with two different services.

Now residents of Fields Road, Oakfield, are fuming that they have to put up 80 buses a day on their quiet cul-de-sac - that's one every eight minutes.

"It's ridiculous," said resident Mostyn Arnold, 46. "There cannot be that many people who need to get to town. Oakfield didn't even have a bus service until eight years ago. Now there are 80 buses a day.

"We have to put up with so much extra noise and pollution. You can hear the buses coming a mile away because they have a very distinctive noise. I work during the week but on a Saturday you can't get any peace."

Father-of four Mr Arnold said residents are also concerned for the safety of their children during the summer holidays.

"There are a lot of youngsters who play on the street, and even more at this time of year. There is no off-street parking so they are not always visible playing in between parked cars. I have already seen some of the older kids playing tag with the buses.

"With that many buses coming back and forth every day there could easily be an accident."

Stagecoach made the service change on July 12. There are now four buses an hour to Newport and four to Cwmbran Richard Davies, commercial director of Stagecoach South Wales, said the increase in buses was part of an improved service for passengers. "This will generate more passenger usage and is a much needed improvement for the area," said Mr Davies.

"Safety is always an issue that we treat very carefully. We have always had buses travelling along the route. The increase in frequency I wouldn't necessarily see as impacting on the safety of the area."

Mr Davies said residents shouldn't experience problems of noise. "It's not a very large number of journeys per hour that we are talking about," he said. "It's certainly not a constant stream."