PASSENGERS could be left stranded when night buses connecting Bolton and Manchester via Salford are withdrawn from the start of next month.

Two services run by First Greater Manchester — the 8 and the 36 — will stop running in the late evening.

The company's decision will hit revellers returning from a night in Manchester as well as shift workers.

A spokesman for the bus firm said: "A number of changes were made to the night bus network at the end of January 2015 when funding support was withdrawn to run the night bus network following a budget review at Transport for Greater Manchester.

"As a result First Manchester stepped in to take over the running of the Bolton number 8 and 36 services and the Leigh 39 night services.

"Despite doing our best to run these services on a purely commercial basis for over a year they are not covering the costs of operation and reluctantly we've had to take the decision to withdraw them 8 (Bolton), 36 (Bolton) and 39 (Leigh) night services from April 3.

He added: "We've done our best to minimise inconvenience for customers by looking at alternative service options such as the new Vantage which offers a last bus at midnight to Leigh.

"We'll also continue looking at further opportunities to expand other services to meet demand such as later journeys which we introduced on the 135 Bury service last year. "

The number 8 service calls at Bolton, Moses Gate, Farnworth, Kearsley, Pendlebury, Irlams o’ th’ Height, Pendleton and Manchester.

It currently departs every half hour until 2.45am in the direction of Manchester city centre and 3.30am towards Bolton between Monday and Saturday.

But from April 3 the last bus will be at 11pm from Bolton and 11.59pm from Manchester.

Meanwhile the 36 service — connecting Bolton, Harper Green, New Bury, Little Hulton, Walkden, Swinton, Irlams o’ th’ Height, Pendleton and Manchester — runs every 30 minutes.

Seven days a week passengers can catch the last Manchester-bound service at 1.15am while the final Bolton-bound service leaves central Manchester at 11.55pm.

However, the withdrawal of night-time services means the last 36 service will be the 10.45pm Bolton to Manchester, the 11.15pm from Bolton to Little Hulton and the 11.55pm from Manchester to Bolton.