YORK’S biggest bus operator has cut the frequency of services on a busy route in a bid to make them more reliable.

First has confirmed there are now six fewer services a day on the number 12 route from Monks Cross to Foxwood Lane, but stressed it had not cut the number of buses, with four still operating on the route.

A spokesman was responding after passenger Mike Longhurst wrote to The Press to claim First had failed to inform passengers that the new service needed fewer buses, therefore creating more profit for the firm.

“This might be acceptable, however the current service is far worse than the old one, with buses running at least 10 minutes late most of this week,” he said.

He said that prior to the changes, the service 12 ran a half hourly service for most of the day with a slightly extended gap between services at peak times.

He added that First York managing director Marc Bichtemann had said it was committed to providing safe, punctual and reliable bus travel. “The question is when does he intend to achieve this promise that he has now been making for several years.”

The First spokesman said it reviewed its timetables on an ongoing basis to ensure it provided the most reliable services possible, continued to grow bus passengers and tackle congestion.

“The revised timetable introduced on service 12 was introduced to reflect the longer journey times caused by congestion,” he said.

“The service was becoming increasingly unreliable and taking longer to complete each journey. In total there are six less journeys a day but with the new timetable we are aiming to provide a more reliable service.

“At certain times of day, the frequency has reduced from every 30 minutes to every 40 minutes. The revised timetable is a more common ‘every 40 minutes'.

“The new timetable provides a service every 40 minutes for most of the day compared to the previous service offering varying frequencies - including small periods every 30 minutes.”

He said the number of buses used on the service was ‘actually just the same', adding: “Just to reiterate, there is no saving.”