IN response to Philip Lickley's letter about recent bus service changes (November 5), I can report that the withdrawal of service 16a was directly connected with First York's positive response to reinstate a bus service to the Flaxman Croft area of Copmanthorpe, which they controversially withdrew in September.

The connection is only that they were compelled to reorganise existing resources, rather than introduce new ones, to solve what was a contentious problem.

The council has co-operated with the company to mitigate the effects this might have on Acomb. Former council-subsidised bus services 25 and 26 have been revised to retain most of the transport links uniquely provided by service 16a and to introduce some new ones.

Service 26 now runs from Poppleton Road via Boroughbridge Road and Beckfield Lane hourly to and from Acomb and onward to Foxwood Lane and Askham Bar for York College.

Service 25 has become Service 17 and now runs hourly (Monday to Friday) from Clifton Moor via Upper Poppleton, Boroughbridge Road, and Carr Lane into Acomb with most journeys continuing onward via Hamilton Drive into York city centre and on to Monks Cross in parallel with Service 16.

York College journeys continue as Service 17A.

Services 1 and 4 are both sustained entirely by the income the company earns from passengers on them and their frequencies are determined by the growing demand for them. Despite Mr Lickley's contention, I am afraid available evidence shows demand for travel around Acomb to be of a much smaller volume which is insufficient to support a more frequent service.

Terry Walker,

Public transport planner,

City of York Council,

St Leonard's Place, York.

Updated: 11:42 Tuesday, November 09, 2004