TRANSPORT bosses have rapped the main bus operator in Bolton over the reliability of its services.

The Greater Manchester Transport Executive criticised First Manchester for the number of buses which did not run according to the timetable and has told the company it has until February 15 to make improvements.

First Bus officials pledged that the situation would improve.

They said the current situation related to engineering issues, which had led to problems keeping enough vehicles on the road and reversed the previous improvements noted in previous months.

A meeting will be held after next month's deadline to discuss the improvements.

Councillor Roger Jones, chairman of the authority, said: "We are extremely concerned at the latest figures for December which show that the reliability of First's services is not improving.

"This is backed up by the number of complaints we are currently receiving from the public about First's bus services."

Bolton councillor Guy Harkin branded Bolton, Leigh and Wigan the worst-performing depots in Greater Manchester.

He said: "An awful lot of services are cancelled in Bolton as well as Leigh and Wigan. First told us that it was having problems with recruiting drivers.

"Then it was having engineering problems, with buses breaking down. It's been a dire 12 months for bus users in Bolton. First Manchester has one month to sort the situation out."

Barry Pybis, managing director of First North-west, said: "We are aware that our performance deteriorated during December and we are already taking steps to address this.

"With the support of the trade unions we have agreed an exceptional pay deal, which has allowed us to begin recruiting more engineers and fitters.

"We fully expect to see a significant improvement in our service reliability as a result."

"Last month, the reliability of First's services actually got worse. It is very difficult to encourage people to think about using public transport when services are unreliable."

Seven new staff have already started, with more being interviewed over the next couple of weeks. We will be fully staffed by mid February and our new engineering workforce will be better skilled, better paid and more motivated.