I SHOULD comment on two aspects of your coverage of bus service changes.

In acknowledging to Councillor Kind that bus services in the Malton Road area had been poor in the past, I was referring to the infrequency of service along Heworth Green and Malton Road between the junction with Dodsworth Avenue and the junction with Elmfield Avenue. No criticism was intended of bus services running along Dodsworth Avenue and Elmfield Avenue, or along East Parade and through Heworth.

In reply to Mr Thomas (Letters, October 8), my judgement that the revised 13 and 16 services from early September were an improvement is based on the following:

The two services were co-ordinated to given an even frequency in both directions between York Station and Monks Cross Shopping Centre - quarter-hourly during the day and half-hourly on Sundays - with an improved early evening service on the 13 up until just after 8pm. This is double the previous Sunday frequency and the weekday buses are better spaced as well as extended into the evening.

With the 13 replacing the 26, the daytime frequency between Heworth and Monks Cross over this route improved from hourly to half-hourly.

The introduction of the Sunday 16A restored a Sunday service to Elmfield Avenue which it has not had for several years. Copmanthorpe also regained a Sunday service.

Changes were made to the 16/16A schedule to assist it in running more reliably than it did previously. Neither 13 nor 16 receives any council funding (except for a small contribution to Sunday costs) so are provided by First York with the resources they feel can be supported by the fares paid by customers using the services.

Terry Walker,

Public transport planner,

City of York Council,

St Leonard's Place,

York.

Updated: 09:44 Friday, October 15, 2004