CONSULTANTS have been called in to help York transport chiefs get to grips with reliability problems on a city bus route.

City of York Council and First have welcomed the appointment of JMP Consultants to bolster the number six service between the city centre and Clifton Moor.

The service has been hit by traffic congestion at various stages of the route - damaging timetables and reliability.

Only last year, the service was extended north from the city centre to provide new links to York Hospital and Clifton Moor.

JMP has identified short-term measures to improve operating conditions, and detailed journey time surveys were used by First to produce a new timetable for the service.

More substantial schemes are in the pipeline, which are intended to reduce bus journey times by increasing priority for vehicles on the route.

Council officers are currently assessing the feasibility of such proposals and hope to commission a further study shortly.

Peter Edwards, commercial manager at First, said: "We are very pleased. This demonstrates the city's commitment to overcoming the traffic congestion that exists within the city.

"It has measured specifically the problems we have had. It has enabled us to build some of the information into the new timetable for the number six service.

"The situation has not been helped by roadworks in Clifton this week. But we are hopeful that, in the long term, this will help improve reliability."

Dan Johnson, principal transport planner at City of York Council, said: "We commissioned JMP consultants to prepare a report on possible improvements to the number six metro bus service.

"The service is one of the main forms of transport used by residents to get to York Hospital and is therefore one of our highest priority routes.

"The consultants have now produced their report and we will be looking closely at their findings to determine out how the service can best be improved."

Updated: 09:41 Thursday, February 27, 2003