From December 14, Stagecoach Services 3 and 4 will run every 15 minutes rather than every ten between Heysham and Lancaster city centre.
Service 3 will now depart every 30 minutes between the Battery and Lancaster University and Service 4 will also run every 30 minutes from Heysham.

During term times, extra buses will be provided on Service 3 between the university and the city centre.

Chris Bowles, Stagecoach North West managing director, said: "We try very hard not to cut the number of buses and journeys on our routes.
"Unfortunately there has been a huge reduction in the amount of money local councils, including Lancaster City Council, pay us for the concessionary NoWCard Bus Pass Scheme."

In Lancaster's case this reflects a reduction of more than £1million this year alone.

"Whilst we have been having lots of busy buses, we have actually been losing money on some of these journeys," said Mr Bowles.

"Stagecoach in Lancaster understands there is a problem for some authorities in funding what is an immensely popular scheme, but the answer is not to pay bus operators less money or, as happened in some areas in Lancashire, spend it somewhere else."

It is hoped that council cuts might not be as severe as first feared following the government's announcement of plans to more than double the subsidy.

In 2008/09, Lancaster City Council met the £2.05million shortfall in grant funding for the scheme.

In March, it estimated a shortfall of £1million for the current financial year.

But the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced consultation on proposals which would see an increase in Lancaster's grant from £510,000 to £1.2million from next April.

However before then, Stagecoach plans a further round of smaller changes early in the New Year to Services 6, 7 and 10 in Lancaster; Service 42 out to Blackpool as well as the S28 School Bus in the Heysham area.

New timetables for Services 3 & 4 will be available both in a booklet form and online at www.stagecoachbus.com/northwest from Tuesday.