A SHUTTLE bus operating on Britain's first congestion-toll road is proving a success, according to a council.

Durham County Council introduced the Cathedral bus serving Durham City's peninsula, including the castle, cathedral and university colleges, to coincide with the introduction of a £2 toll to drive through the area.

While buses had covered the route before the toll's introduction on October 1, the new service operates more frequently and with better-quality, easily accessible vehicles.

It was planned that any surplus revenue from tolls would be used to supplement the council's existing subsidy of the service.

But due to a 90 per cent drop in traffic using the toll road - 40 per cent more than expected - it is generating around £5,000 a week less than anticipated, leaving no spare cash.

It has also been reported that the bus service is underused.

A council spokesman insisted that both the toll and the bus were proving successful.

"The service was never intended to be a money-making scheme. If it makes money, we will deem the access charge to be a failure," he said.

"The bus is an enhanced version of a service that was running prior to the toll road and the passenger figures are greater than the old bus.

"People might be seeing the bus running empty when people have got on and off before it passes them by.

"It would have been wrong of us to introduce the access charge and not provide any alternative means of transport for people with mobility problems."

The spokesman said the bus scheme would be looked at as part of a review of the first six months.