Lancashire County Council stock image of bus seats

Late night bus services will be saved

Vital late night bus services linking Preston, Brookfield and Red Scar have been saved following a decision by Lancashire County Council to fund them.

The county council will provide funding for the late night Service 6 route on Monday to Saturday evenings to maintain the 21.55 and 22.55 departures. The Sunday service will end at 20.55.

There are around 4,600 passenger trips made on these two late night services annually.

Preston Bus advised the council recently that they had to review many of their commercial services due to significant increases to costs, resources and lower passenger numbers. They took the decision to withdraw a number of later evening journeys.

Andrew Varley, Public Transport Manager at Lancashire County Council 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."

For more information on the Preston Bus services, go to https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/roads-parking-and-travel/public-transport/bus-service-changes/

Notes to editors

Notes to editors:

Lancashire County Council will utilise existing funding to provide these Service 6 replacement journeys. This will allow time to undertake a full review of the county council's other tendered bus routes within the city to determine if there is a sustainable way of providing these replacement services for as much of the existing routes as possible.