A bus service which provides a lifeline for disabled people has been saved from closure.

Dial a Ride was to fold at the end of this month when funding ran out.

But yesterday delighted bosses learned that a bid for lottery cash, which will fund the project until 2006, had been successful.

It is to receive £93,280 over three years.

And in a double boost for the town, another vital bus service -- Safe Rider -- is also to receive lottery money.

It has been awarded £90,265, enabling it to continue for another three years when its present funding expires in June.

Dial a Ride staff had already been served with redundancy notices after extensive efforts to secure funding, including applications to dozens of organisations and charitable bodies, had proved unsuccessful.

Stephen Shorten,(Pictured) transport organiser with Keighley Community Transport, which set up the Dial a Ride service in 1995, said: "We got a letter this morning, totally out of the blue, informing us that our lottery application had been successful.

"Someone from the lottery rang last week to say they were considering our submission and to ask one or two questions, but then we heard nothing more.

"We are absolutely delighted at this award. It will pay for everything, from the running costs of the vehicle to wages for two part-time drivers, over the next three years.

"It is a very well used service -- making about 5,000 journeys a year and clocking up around 20,000 miles, and I am over the moon that it has been saved."

Dial a Ride is predominantly used by disabled people -- 40 per cent of passengers are in wheelchairs -- but it caters for anyone unable to use normal public transport.

Some use the service for just a short period, for example while recovering from operations or if suffering from a broken limb, but most are long-term clients.

The Safe Rider grant means that it will be able to continue to provide its popular night time women's safe-transport service and daytime service for vulnerable people.

Project manager Pat Schofield said: "Our situation was very uncertain. We had funding until June, but after that we were facing the prospect of having to severely curtail our provision. The services are very well used and this award safeguards them. It is excellent news."

Safe Rider's evening service, which operates Monday-Saturday, transports up to about 120 women a week door to door, while the daytime Monday-Thursday facility for the vulnerable caters for around 50 people each week.