Council-subsidised bus services across West Lothian are set to change as commercial operators develop their service.
West Lothian Council executive agreed to spend £100,000 extending contracts on four services in Linlithgow, Bathgate, Armadale and Livingston until the end of July to enable a review to be carried out.
Head of operational services Jim Jack told the meeting that the bus service in the county is provided through a combination of commercial routes, which provide 80 per cent, and subsidised services.
The commercial network has undergone significant improvements in the last year as First Bus revised its services and Lothian Country extended its services.
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This means there is now an overlap in some areas between commercial and subsidised routes and the council is legally required to adjust its provision.
A report will go to the development and transport PDSP to discuss changes and remove overlaps before returning to the executive for a final decision.
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The routes affected are mainly town service operations.
The money to cover the four-month extension has come from underspend in the winter maintenance budget.
Executive councillor for development and transport Cathy Muldoon said: “Our review could not be started earlier as the commercial market was changing frequently and any modelling work undertaken would have been negated as the next phase of changes was made.
“Funding for subsidised bus services is limited and it’s right that we carry out a review to ensure that breaks and overlaps in services are identified and that subsidised routes operate as efficiently as possible.”
