NIGHT-time park-and-ride bus services in Winchester are to be cut back because of a lack of demand.

The evening service ferrying people between Bar End and the city centre was launched last November for an initial trial period of six months.

The service consisted of eight round journeys via the railway station, The Broadway and St Catherine's car park, with the final trip at 8.30pm.

However, figures collated from the trial showed passenger take-up of the service to be poor, so city transport chiefs have now agreed to trim back the number of journeys.

Under new proposals, the service will be reduced from eight journeys to two - with the last departing the station at 7.15pm.

It was originally recommended that the evening service be cut altogether, but that idea was rejected by city councillors.

Council leader Councillor Sheila Campbell added: "There has not been the uptake at the moment to justify this service.

"We need to find a way of doing surveys of train commuters to see if having an evening service could find a market."

The new timetable will come into effect on Tuesday, May 3 and the cost of the contract with Stagecoach will be £306,575.

Previously, the price of the full service, including the evening timetable, was £326,600.

A review of the whole park-and-ride operation will now take place in June.