AN innovative rural bus services is set to carry more passengers after expanding to cover North Lincolnshire.

Rural residents are being offered access to Lincolnshire County Council's unique CallConnect rural bus service in a new partnership with North Lincolnshire Council.

CallConnect is a demand-responsive bus service which helps people travel from outlying rural areas to market towns and urban centres.

Instead of a fixed timetable and route, the service responds to passenger requests made by telephone or online.

This means times and places visited differ each day according to need.

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The partnership between the neighbouring councils has already seen CallConnect bus services in the Brigg, Caistor and Gainsborough districts of both Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire.

Now the two local authorities will soon see the phased launch of a further three CallConnect services. They will cover Barton upon Humber from 23 May.

Lincolnshire County Council's Passenger Transport Unit will oversee and manage all aspects of booking, scheduling and daily operations of the new services.

As well as benefiting passengers, CallConnect manager Paul Sanders said services such as CallConnect also benefited local authorities facing significant budget pressures.

"On-demand bus services like CallConnect are increasingly being seen as an effective alternative to conventional supported rural bus services," he said.

"We are excited to be working with North Lincolnshire Council and to see the extension of CallConnect in North Lincolnshire."

CallConnect celebrated its 15th anniversary earlier this year. It has carried more than 2.5 million passengers since its launch in 2001.