LARKHALL'S Conservative councillor Richard Nelson has secured a lifeline for a threatened rural bus service.

The #73 route between Crawford and Lesmahagow was set to be withdrawn on 22 December, leaving people in the communities facing difficulties getting around.

SPT, which has funded the service for some time, had announced that passenger numbers meant the subsidy for the #73 could no longer be justified.

Councillor Nelson – who was appointed to the SPT Board by South Lanarkshire Council after May’s local elections – pressed the agency to help prevent the sudden loss of the route.

His intervention saw SPT agree to continue the #73 to the end of March 2018. It buys vital time to try to find alternative ways of funding the service in the long term.

Councillor Nelson said: “I’m glad we got agreement to ensure the 73 will stay on the road at least through to spring.

“The loss of public transport routes significantly affects passengers and when a rural service is withdrawn the impact is often particularly hard, as these communities have few alternatives.

“The extra three months of funding means the local community has a chance to explore other ways of making this service sustainable.

“I’d like to thank the other members of the SPT Board and the staff who worked to deliver this lifeline, and I very much hope that a long term solution can be found over the next few months.”