A LATE night bus service is being reintroduced to Barnoldswick after reports some people had to quit their jobs after it was axed.

Cllr Lyle Davy, who represents Barnoldswick's Coates ward, said Lancashire County Council and Pendle withdrew a subsidy to Transdev, which operated the former No. 29 route from Barnoldswick to Skipton.

The new M1 service, which they began earlier this year, runs to and from Padiham and Barnoldswick, and goes via Burnley, Kelbrook, Earby and Barnoldswick.

But Cllr Davy said the last service from Barnoldswick previously finished at about 11pm, which was changed to 9.53pm.

With 6,000 people a year using the service for work and late night socialising, West Craven Area Committee has now funded the re-introduction of the service, to the tune of £7,700.

"It's quite obvious the new arrangements aren't working," said Cllr Davy. "There's a petition going around, and at the moment it has 600 signatures."

The petition, started by local bus user Beth Harris, of Barnoldswick, asked that late night bus services be restored after cuts forced people to quit their jobs or slash the number of working hours.

"We've been inundated during the past few weeks by a not-so-insignificant number of people affected by the change in services," said Cllr Mike Goulthorp, chairman of the West Craven Area Committee. "A lot of people have had to give up work because of the changes."

At a meeting last Tuesday, Cllr Davy proposed the West Craven Area Committee ring-fence £7,700 from its capital programme as an interim measure to underwrite the subsidy required to reintroduce the late-night bus service.

Transdev chief executive officer, Alex Hornby, said: “We’re very pleased to have worked alongside Cllr Davy and Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson to help reintroduce the late evening Mainline bus service to Earby and Barnoldswick.

“The new Mainline M1 bus will depart from Burnley at 10.28pm, serving Nelson, Colne, Earby and Barnoldswick. There will also be an extra journey from Barnoldswick at 11.24pm back to Colne, Nelson and Queensgate.”

Cllr Goulthorp added: "This late service will allow people to get into and out of Barnoldswick easier."

But Barnoldswick councillor, David Whipp, said: "Although I'm fine with this proposal, it's a bit simplistic.

"There is also a question of routing and timetabling.

"It's not a solution to put money into Transdev to run a single journey. There's been a wholesale revision in the number of buses and services. What we need is a far better pattern of services."

He also said a £7,700 subsidy to a 'multi-million pound' company like Transdev would have little impact on its budgets.

"We need to have a thorough discussion with Transdev," he said.

Cllr Davy said he will be asking Pendle Council's executive and Lancashire County Council's bus working group to each fund half of the subsidy, which would allay the cost to the committee.

But Cllr Whipp, who represents West Craven on Lancashire County Council, said: "The prospect of the county council putting any money in is non-existent."

Cllr Davy's resolution also asked that committee chairman, Cllr Goulthorp, meet with the chief executive of Transdev to discuss possible improvements to the timetable and general smoother running of bus services throughout West Craven.

"There is a lack of service, and the M1 route buses are not meshing with X43 service going into Skipton," said Cllr Goulthorp. "We're hoping, through discussions with the Transdev chief executive, to look at alterations to those timetables because of the sheer amount of problems these new services are causing."