Isle of Man Transport has applied for changes to scheduled bus services following the introduction of dial-a-ride.

An on-demand minibus service for passengers in the north of the island wishing to travel to the airport was launched at the beginning of the month.

The plan is to have a service connecting villages in the north and ultimately to roll out dial-a-ride across the island.

Now Bus Vannin has applied to the Road Transport Licensing Committee for changes to scheduled service with the advent of dial-a-ride.

Bus services in the north will be reduced due to the replacement of off peak journeys by the new ’demand responsive’ service.

The changes affect services 17, 17K, 18, 18K, 19, 19C, 20, 20A (Jurby, Andreas and Bride) and 16 (Maughold).

Buses to Maughold will only operate on schooldays from December 17, if the RTLC gives the go-ahead.

Journeys to Andreas, Smeale and Bride will be reduced and there will be a revised timetable to Jurby so that an hourly service will still be provided from Ramsey.

With an eye to rolling out the new service across the island, Bus Vannin has also applied to lift a restriction preventing passengers being picked up along the route of services 1, 11, 12, and 12A.

It has also applied to have these services - between Onchan, Noble’s and the south of the island via the airport - increased in frequency from the current 20 minutes to every 15.

Public transport director Ian Longworth said: ’An announcement on the introduction of demand responsive transport in the north of the island centred on Bride and Andreas.

’We are finalising details at the present time. There will be a two week overlap between it starting and consequential changes to the bus network.

’The patient transfer service to the airport and carriage of passengers for a fare, who do not qualify for the free travel or who are travelling to the airport at a similar time, is now established in the north.

’This will be extended to cover Peel and St John’s in the west and Whitebridge in the east. This is likely to happen at the same time as DRT in the north and we will be making an announcement shortly.

’We envisage the whole island covered by the patient transfer arrangements by early next year.’

The Manx Taxi Federation fears they will lose trade from the new dial-a-ride service which they believe is anti-competitive.

ConnectPorts, a flexible minibus service that will pick you up from home and take you to the airport and back, is a development of the pilot patient transfer scheme that began in July.

Bookings can be made by residents who live in the north, including Kirk Michael and Laxey, for any journey starting from the passenger’s home between 5am and leaving the airport until 9.30pm each day.

The minibus will wait if your flight arrives late. A standard flat rate fare of £10 will apply for adults, with children half price.

RTLC secretary Noel Capewell explained that as an approved operator, Bus Vannin didn’t need to apply for the patient transfer service where pre-booked passengers’s travel costs were all paid by the DHSC.

But once the service started picking up passengers charged individual fares it needed to apply for a regular service licence.

The applications will be heard by the RTLC on either November 20 or December 10.