A free bus service using a fleet of historic vehicles - one of which once plied the streets of Bradford in its blue and cream livery - is to be run on Christmas Day.

The Keighley Bus Museum Trust is setting up the service for the fifth consecutive year and is increasing the fleet to six buses and coaches to meet public demand.

It will be the only public transport service on Christmas Day in the Bradford area.

And organisers plan to timetable new routes, including a service along the Worth Valley to Oxenhope, calling at Cross Roads and Haworth and routes to Braithwaite, Spring Bank and Bracken Bank in Keighley.

Two of the buses will be from the failed Transperience attraction in Bradford - a Bradford City Transport double decker 309 in blue and cream and a Halifax Joint Omnibus Committee single decker 232 in orange, white and green livery, both bought with Heritage Lottery money.

They will be joined by buses and coaches from Bolton Cor-poration, Leeds City Transport and West Yorkshire Road Car Company. KBMT chairman David Hudson said the extra services had been introduced following requests by the public.

The service will run from Keighley town centre to the outlying villages of Cross Hills and Sutton in North Yorkshire, to Oxenhope, Haworth, Oakworth and Thwaites Brow and also into Crossflatts and Bingley.

Buses will also travel into the housing estates in Keighley at Spring Bank, Braithwaite, Bracken Bank and into Fell Lane and Black Hill. Services along the Aire Valley will connect with Airedale General Hospital at Steeton.

Throughout the day there will be 13 services running in Keighley to the Brewery Arms in the town centre, between Keighley, Fell Lane and Exley Head; from Keighley to Crossflatts and Bingley; from Keighley through Cross Roads, to Haworth and Oxenhope; from Keighley to Sutton calling at Airedale Hospital and Cross Hills; from Keighley to Spring Bank and Ingrow; from Keighley to Black Hill, Braithwaite and Guardhouse; from Keighley to Thwaites Brow; from Keighley to Fell Lane; and from Keighley to Ingrow Church, Bracken Bank and Worth Way.

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