A BUS company which operates nine numbered services in Keighley will cease operating in the town from May 19.

TLC Travel, which has run these services for the last six years, said it lost out to Transdev in the latest tendering bid.

A spokesman for Keighley Bus Company, commenting at the latest Keighley Public Transport Watch meeting last Wednesday, (March 7) confirmed that it would be taking over these routes once TLC withdraws.

Barry Cliff, general manager of TLC, said: "Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in our bid during the re-tendering process.

"We've been running for 18 years in total, including six years in Keighley and also operate in Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Bradford, Huddersfield and North Kirklees.

"But we'll be stopping our operations in Keighley on May 19.

"We've had four buses a day working in Keighley with nine staff working there, and these staff have the option to transfer to Keighley Bus Company.

"We've enjoyed serving the people of Keighley and the surrounding area, and we do intend to bid again for services in Keighley in the future."

A spokesman for Keighley Bus Company, responding after the public transport watch meeting, said: “We're really pleased to expand our network in Keighley with the addition of several routes in and out of the town centre as part of a new partnership with West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

"This will see us invest over half a million in brand new innovative Mercedes buses – the first of their kind in Yorkshire.

"They’ll come complete with a suitably high specification for our customers including spacious comfortable seating and USB power points to charge up personal devices.

"We're also pleased to be creating several new jobs in Keighley, employed at our base right next to our town’s bus station.”