A popular bus route to Hel in Poland is having its route number changed from 666 to 669 after long-running complaints by religious conservatives.
Route 666 to the sandy beaches of the resort town of Hel has become a popular running joke, especially among tourists.
But some religious conservatives in the country claim the route is “spreading Satanism”.
In the Bible 666 is identified as the “number of the beast” and the decision for the route to be given 666 is down to the town’s name of Hel.
However following the complaints, bus company PKS Gdynia announced: “We are turning the last 6 upside down!”
The firm’s designer Marcin Szwaczyk told the trojmiasto.pl news website the number 669 was “less controversial”.
While the association between 666 and the word “hell” may be lost on some Poles - as the Polish word for it is “pieklo” - a number of social media users in the country have condemned the coming change, which the bus company says is set to take place on 24 June.
“It was a worldwide advert,” Krzysztof Nadolski wrote.
“I have often read about route 666 to Hel on foreign websites or Facebook groups. I am convinced there were tourists who would have probably arrived faster by train, but for fun they took bus route 666.”
Over the past few years, religious conservatives from one Polish group have complained that bus company PKS Gdynia is “spreading Satanism”.
Route 666 usually runs in the summer along the Baltic Sea coast.
