A council has been accused of double standards

for running its own free bus service for employees while cutting public transport.

Brighton and Hove Council pays about £1,000 a week for a shuttle which drives staff between the town halls and Kings House and is also used for journeys to and from work.

Meanwhile about 12 bus routes in the town are set to have evening and Sunday services cut from October 1 after the council refused to increase its public transport subsidy.

The council pays £750,000 a year to keep going routes deemed under-used, such as to Rottingdean and Woodingdean.

Campaigners say the council bus now often runs empty and is a waste of taxpayers' money. The council insists that the service is environmentally-friendly, reduces car usage and helps save money and staff time.

An angry resident in Coleman Avenue, Hove, said the bus was mostly used by staff to travel to and from their homes to work.

She said: "As a council taxpayer I do not expect to subsidise staff travelling to and from work.

"At a time when the council claims it cannot afford its subsidy to Brighton and Hove Buses, I would be interested to know how much it spends on this staff concessionary bus and whether that money would better serve the council taxpayers by being diverted to subsidise the buses we all use."

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove Council said: "The staff shuttle bus runs between the council's main buildings, enabling staff to move quickly and efficiently between sites.

"This enables good services to be delivered to the public and also saves the council taxpayer money, because the amount of staff hours wasted using other means of transport would add up to far more than the cost of the bus which is around £1,000 a week."

She said the bus was introduced at the request by staff union Unison. The main purpose of the service was for use during the working day but the council was happy for staff to use it to go to and from their homes.

Some off-peak bus journeys in Brighton and Hove had to be reduced because the tenders for running the routes were more expensive than in previous years.