RESIDENTS of rural communities will not now miss the bus because a £50,000 rescue package has halted plans to axe services.

The money is being found from budget savings made by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

But it comes with a sting in the tail for bus operators Arriva as council leader Councillor Dave Walsh urged the Government to look at the way public transport is being managed in the UK and in particular, whether "cosy quasi-monopolies" run by bus operators serve the public interest.

Passenger group Transport 2000 welcomed the council's subsidy, but suggests the Government introduces franchises for bus operators, as well as for train companies.

Chairman of the Cleveland branch Brian Milnes said: "This is about the fifth cut back in the Teesside area in the last six months.

"It cannot go on like this."

Arriva had planned to make cuts in evening and Sunday runs on services 63, 71, 74, 48 and 98, serving Lingdale and Skelton, as well as Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, South Bank, Eston and Grangetown. But the £50,000 has enabled the council to issue contracts to ensure the services keep running, from April 1.

Mr Milnes said: "The problem is, before deregulation companies like Arriva, which used to be United were good.

"I feel now accountants are taking a short-sighted view, instead of thinking in terms of service networks. It does not matter if there are only five people travelling on an evening service, it's important the bus is there, because it may offer a service to 100 people in that community."

Coun Walsh said: "If we did nothing, then large numbers of people without access to a car would be literally isolated in their own homes - unable to get to and from work or to visit relatives and friends.

"We have used part of our budget savings to step in, to issue contracts for the continued running of these services, and we know that this will be welcomed by the communities that would otherwise have been hit."

Iain McInroy, Arriva's operations director said: "The decision to withdraw individual journeys is only made after we have monitored the usage and consider that they cannot continue to operate on a commercial basis.''