A BUS route used by school children and to get isolated older people out of their homes has been reprieved.

City of York Council’s ruling executive agreed on Thursday night not to tweak subsidy cuts, which would have cut £350,000 from their bills but would have seen the end of the number 20 orbital bus.

Instead, they will keep paying Transdev £100,000 to run the service on the busiest part of its route, which links Rawcliffe, Clifton Moor, Haxby, Huntington and Monks Cross.

Before the councillors confirmed their decision they heard residents plead for the services to be maintained.

Haxby woman Sarah Dixon said the number 20 was an important link between communities and shops and services at Clifton Moor and Monks Cross.

Losing it would make it harder for children to get to Huntington and Joseph Rowntree Schools, and would be “a devastation” for older people who rely on the bus to get to the shops and keep from becoming isolated, she said.

Former councillor Dave Merrett also spoke, urging the executive member to consider how much good bus services can do to combat congestion in the city centre. Plans to cut subsidies on other evening and weekend services have been lessened under the same agreement, but councillors pleaded with people in York to use the bus services so they do not rely so heavily on public subsidies.

Council leader David Carr said: “Clearly it is not sustainable to use hard-earned council taxpayers’ money to have empty little-used buses running all over York.”

He said they had used a scalpel rather than an axe to cut subsidies, thus preserving some of the best used and more valued services, adding: “In spending a little bit more money we are getting better value.”

Deputy leader Keith Aspden the option they were approving would still save money, but would take into account what they had heard from bus users and residents around the city.

They committed to keep that level of service on the 20 for the duration of this council administration.