20/1/2010 - Evening bus boost for Barrow

Evening buses in Barrow that faced being withdrawn will remain in service thanks to Cumbria County Council.

As part of a review of its operations Stagecoach is bringing forward the time of its last buses on the main town services 1, 3 and 4 to around 9.15pm from Sundays to Thursdays starting next month.

But to ensure passengers can continue travelling by bus after this time during the week, the county council has stepped in to pay for replacement services to extend these routes by an hour on Mondays to Thursdays.

Stagecoach will operate the additional journeys (two buses in each direction on all three routes at half hourly intervals) with Cumbria County Council paying £4,500 a year to get them on the timetable from February 8.

Councillor Tim Knowles, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for transport, said: "Stagecoach have taken a commercial decision to withdraw these services, but we’ve listened to the concerns of local people who were worried about not being able to travel by bus on these routes after 9.15/9.30pm during the week.

"We are committed to providing good public transport in Barrow and by funding these late services we’re providing a valuable service to people travelling by bus in the evenings and showing our commitment to public transport."

ENDS

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