IT IS a vital form of transport for residents in Southampton, threatened with the axe in the latest shake-up of city bus services.

But now the Service S2 has been saved after a last-ditch deal between the city council and bus company Velvet.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, a number of services around the city have been axed or reduced after First carried out a review of usage and the council cut £400,000 of subsidies to bus firms.

Alongside the X2 Millbrook Flyer, the S2, which currently travels between the Shirley Tesco and Shamrock Quay, was one of the routes due to be scrapped from June 30.

But following uproar after the new routes were announced last week, the city council and Velvet put their heads together and agreed a deal to save the service, which will now run on a slightly different route.

Council chiefs had more money left over than had been expected from putting other bus routes out to tender, and Velvet has now been able to announce its new route, which will take effect from July 1.

The new service will start at Millbank Street in Northam, serve the Royal South Hampshire Hospital, the city centre, Bedford Place and Southampton General Hospital before ending at the Precinct in Shirley. It will run from Monday to Saturday, with the last buses leaving Millbank Street at 2.50pm and the General Hospital at 3.15pm.

Velvet managing director Phil Stockley said: “It’s good news for people living in areas such as The Polygon and St James’ Road, who would otherwise have been left without any buses at all, it’s good news for pupils at Springhill Primary School who will keep their direct bus service and it’s good news for people who need to travel from certain areas of the city between the two hospitals.

“We’ve gone from a situation where it looked like the route would be lost altogether to one where we’ve turned it around to provide a service which should be a real asset to the city’s public transport network.”

The news has been welcomed by people living on the route who had feared they would be left without a bus service.

Lorraine Barter, from Harborough Road in The Polygon, said: “I’m extremely pleased at the news. The Velvet staff and drivers have always been excellent and helpful, and I’m very grateful and pleased that they have kept the service.”