A SOUTHAMPTON bus company has announced it will be running a Saturday bus service Monday to Friday.

Bus operator City Red has announced that bus services will operate a Saturday timetable during the working week from Monday March 23 to ensure it sustains services for those needing to travel across the region.

The company says is committed to continuing services wherever possible so that those who need to make essential journeys, like health service and emergency workers, can continue to do so.

The announcement comes as the Government has advised against non-essential travel and contact as it introduces new measures to deal with the rising number of coronavirus cases.

City Red’s Managing Director Marc Reddy said: “The Government has made it clear that it now wants people, wherever possible, to work from home and avoid any non-essential travel and contact.

“The number of people travelling has reduced significantly and is continuing to diminish, making this an extremely dynamic situation which is changing day-to-day, hour-by-hour.

“To help our customers and give them clarity, we are reducing our Monday to Friday services to a Saturday timetable. Where we can, we will add extra buses into peak travel periods to ensure that workers are catered for.

“It’s important to emphasise that this is a fast-moving and unprecedented challenge. We are monitoring new developments as they happen and will respond accordingly to keep all our customers informed of any further changes.”

Mr Reddy said this is not a decision they take lightly.

He added: "However, with more and more people choosing or being directed to stay at home, this is the most sensible approach to ensure services continue running and are as close to ‘business as usual’ as we can possibly make them.

“Customers can be assured we will endeavour to keep services running through this unprecedented time of uncertainty.”

Customers are advised to visit the City Red website for updates.