THE pioneering Wigglybus service is to be extended after carrying 40,000 passengers in its first 18 months and attracting the attention of Government ministers.

The Pewsey Vale-based bus run will feature a new evening run into Pewsey from the villages on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from November 27, a public meeting was told.

The meeting in the Bouverie Hall heard other local authorities in the country and Government ministers are looking at the way the three year pilot service is being used. There is confidence it will continue after its pilot funding runs out.

The three specially designed 14 seaters 'wiggle' their way around the vale villages between Pewsey and Devizes with the drivers picking up passengers who have pre-booked through a call centre in Chippenham. Each of the buses is tracked by satellite so the call centres knows where they are at all times.

In the 18 months since the service started more than 40,000 people have used it, the chairman of the Wigglybus standing advisory group John Brewin told the public meeting in Pewsey.

Mr Brewin, who is chairman of Woodborough Parish Council, said the meeting marked the halfway stage of the Wigglybus project which has been funded through the Government's Rural Bus Challenge with match funding from Wiltshire County Council and Kennet.

Anyone living in the area covered by the three buses three circular routes covering the Pewsey Vale from West Grafton and Collingbourne Ducis to Devizes can make a one way journey for £1 or return for £2. Those who pay £20 to join the Wigglybus Travel Club have to pay 30p or 60p return.

Mr Brewin praised the four rota drivers and the two call centre staff for the efficient way the service has developed.

He said he was surprised and delighted that surveys of people using the bus service showed that some were car drivers who chose to use the bus instead.

Mr Brewin said it was too early to talk about the future of Wigglybus services beyond the next 18 months which will complete the three year pilot project.

However, he said there had been a meeting with the Department of Transport and the Regions (DETR) about further funding. "The indications back from that meeting are very positive."

Mr Brewin said the question most often asked was what would happen at the end of the three year pilot scheme and would it be the end of the Wigglybus service. He said: "I am absolutely certain that the answer is no."

The Wigglybus has been nominated for a top national public transport award and short listed in the final three out of 70 competing nominations. The results will be known by the end of November.

Wigglybus project manager Keith Buchan said statistics showed the bus services were being well used and added: "The Wigglybus has become part of the way of life in the Pewsey Vale."

He said the mid-term review due to be published soon would give an opportunity to consider reviewing the service.

Mr Buchan said a proposed Pewsey-Devizes link was under discussion as well as the new evening service which had been requested by the Pewsey SHAK youth club among others.

Mr Buchan held out little hope of extending the service for people living in the Everleigh and Collingbourne area as requested by Kingston parish councillor Bill Lewis.

It was pointed out that extending the existing Collingbourne/Everleigh route to include Ludgershall and Tidworth would make it unbearably long.