TRANSPORT bosses at York council have agreed a £36,000 payment to First York to keep a raft of bus services which were due to be axed this Sunday running - for the next three months.

The services which were to be cut from Sunday, and which have now been granted a temporary reprieve, were mainly early morning or late evening buses running on the Number 1, 2A, 4 , 6 and 10 routes from Chapelfields, Acomb, Wigginton, Rawcliffe, Poppleton and Dunnington into the city centre.

First told the council they were 'no longer economical to operate'.

They have now been saved for three months - although there will, from Sunday, no longer be a Saturday or weekday service after 7.30pm on the Number 11 route connecting Stonebow with Ashley Park via Heworth.

The cash was awarded following what the council says was an 'open tender procurement exercise' to find longer-term operators for the threatened services. First York bid the lowest price.

But a council spokesperson said the reprieve came with a 'stark warning'. "If the government does not provide longer term funding support, or bus usage doesn’t increase,  further services may be impacted," they said.

Labour executive member for transport Cllr Pete Kilbane said the £36,400 payment had been agreed to 'hold the bus network together' until a more long-term solution could be found.

The council recently secured an extra £1 million of funding to support bus services through part of its wider Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).

But Cllr Kilbane stressed the £36K award was just a short-term solution, in which public cash was being used to support what were previously commercial services. The only way to secure the long-term future of the city's bus network was for more people to use them, he said.

"We will do all we can to protect the bus network," he said.

"But these are tough times for buses. We are using government funding to prop up the bus service. But we are in a position where if people don’t use the bus services, they could lose them."

The council's opposition Lib Dem spokesman on transport Cllr Stephen Fenton welcomed the three-month reprieve for threatened services.

But he added: "What is needed is Government action to provide long-term certainty for bus operators and for passengers. Without this, we are likely to be facing another cliff-edge situation in three months’ time.

"The services under threat are vital for the many residents who rely on them to get to and from school, college and work and also to meet up with friends in the city centre.

"Not everyone has access to a car, and for those that do, the last thing we should be doing is forcing more private vehicles onto already congested roads."

Commenting on the loss of the Number 11 evening bus service, Heworth Without ward councillor Nigel Ayre said: “This is a severe blow for many residents who rely on this service.

"It’s very disappointing that whilst services in other parts of the city have been reprieved, residents in Heworth and Heworth Without have been treated differently and their service axed without warning.

"I’ll be making the case for this service to be kept running for at least another three months so that all options can be explored."

A spokesperson for First York said: “Unfortunately, there were a very small number of journeys... with passenger levels well below those required to cover costs. This included some trips on the 1,4,6, and 10/10A services.

“We are pleased with the outcome of this tender process which provides support to maintain these journeys for a further three months.  

“We will continue to review demand but it is necessary to balance capacity with available resources and ensure we build a sustainable network into the future.”