Hundreds of people have signed a petition calling for the restoration of a “crucial” coach service linking rural Perthshire with Scottish cities.
Citylink has come under fire for cutting back runs between Birnam and Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness from 10 to just three per day.
The company said it decided to reduce the service because it was only attracting a small number of passengers.
The Save our Birnam Bus Services campaign has been launched following a busy public meeting during which locals got the chance to raise concerns about the cut.
An online petition has gathered nearly 300 signatures since it launched at the weekend.
Dave Roberts, who helped set up the group, said last week’s gathering at Birnam Institute highlighted the importance of the service.
He said: “Everyone present had a story to tell about how the reduction in bus services was having a negative impact on their lives.
“It was noted that the intercity bus is still running past Birnam on the A9.
“City Link have simply cut out the Birnam stop and other stops for smaller communities along the A9 corridor.
“We have been told by Citylink that their decision was purely commercial.
“But this has been a crucial service for a lot of people, not just residents but visitors and tourists.”
He said: “It was decided to circulate a petition locally as well as online asking for a reinstatement of the services.”
The online and paper petitions will be merged at a follow-up meeting in mid-March.
Mr Roberts said: “The purpose of the meeting will be to collect all the signed petitions, detail how the changes are affecting people and agree how to approach Citylink to persuade them to change their mind.
“In the meantime, letters are being sent out to Citylink, MSPs and local councillors informing them of the petition and asking them to support the reinstatement of the bus services.”
A spokeswoman for Scottish Citylink said: “In the same way that local authorities and governments have to make decisions on how to manage and allocate resources, we have to do the same.
“Unfortunately, only around two people per day were using our previous services to travel to or from Birnam, which meant that they simply could not be maintained.”
She added: “There continue to be other public transport services available from Birnam and Dunkeld which allow customers to link into the Scottish Citylink network in Perth.”
Campaigners will hold their next public meeting at the Birnam Institute on Wednesday March 16 from 6.30pm.