A bus route used regularly by students and the elderly is to be cancelled in May, it has been confirmed. 

The 505 route, operated by Arriva, currently runs every hour from north Chingford through Waltham Abbey to Harlow town centre. 

It is the only bus which travels from Chingford to Waltham Abbey and will run for the last time on May 9 after Arriva announced the service is no longer financially sustainable.   

Arriva Marketing Manager Richard Lewis, said: "I can confirm that our Service 505 between Harlow, Waltham Abbey and Chingford will run for the last time on Saturday 9th May due to insufficient use being made of it.

"Like all bus companies, we are a commercial business that is required by law to run profitably but, unfortunately, the number of people using the 505 has not been enough to cover the cost of providing the service, a situation that can no longer be sustained.

"We are unable to run at a loss and , therefore, we have had to take the decision to withdraw the service."

Passengers in Waltham Abbey will still be able to get to Harlow using the recently introduced 66a route which starts at Upshire. 

Transport for London (TfL) has launched a consultation to see if there is a need for a similar service, and if so, they could pay for an operator to run a service between Chingford and Waltham Abbey. 

Peter Bradley, TfL’s head of consultation, said: "We are actively looking at the various options available to us when Arriva stops operating route 505 in May. 

"However, as a publically-funded body we have to prioritise how we spend our funds and there has very limited usage on the route in recent years."

The consultation ends today.