Preston Bus route 6 evening cuts reversed as Lancashire County Council steps in

A Preston Bus service in Tithebarne Street Pic: Ian Simpson

An evening bus service for workers at an industrial estate on the edge of Preston are being kept.

Preston Bus had proposed to withdraw the 9.55pm and 10.55pm weekday services of the number 6 bus which goes between the Bus Station and the Red Scar industrial estate.

But Lancashire County Council has stepped in to subsidise the service – which sees more than 4,600 late-evening journeys a year.

It means the final bus on weekdays from the city centre to Red Scar is 10.55pm and coming back from Red Scar to the city centre is is 11.13pm.

The Sunday service will still see an earlier end at 8.55pm.

Public transport manager at the county council Andrew Varley said: “We have assessed the impact of these changes and are funding Service 6, as this was the only route that wasn’t covered by alternative later night provision from other services.

“The other Preston Bus routes that were reduced are still running hourly and by providing these two Service 6 journeys, the same level of provision will continue to be provided and will enable local residents to continue to access the city centre and return home in the evenings.”

A county council spokesperson confirmed to Blog Preston the funding was £21,000 for the year given to Preston Bus to keep the evening journeys going on the number 6 route – and this was funded from its existing public transport budget.

Preston Bus said they were withdrawing evening services because of falling customer journeys and the rising cost of running buses in the city.

Three other routes in the city are still to see major changes to their evening timetables, with the 23,35 and 100 all seeing much earlier last bus times throughout weekday and weekend services as a result of the widespread timetable cutbacks.

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