TRANSPENNINE Express rail franchise holder First Group last night called for more to be done to increase the use of buses instead of cars as it posted a nine per cent rise in half-year profits to £62.1m.

The bus and rail group said its rail division increased passenger income by 11 per cent, while the reliability of its Great Western franchise reached an average of 99.5 per cent.

It said bus passenger growth outside the capital had come mainly in areas where it had forged partnerships with local authorities.

First said it was making progress in areas where councils were investing in measures to make bus travel faster, such as bus lanes.

A First spokesman said: "We would like to see more being done to help the bus compete with the car."

First runs the Transpennine Express route, which runs trains between Newcastle, York and Leeds and to Manchester and Liverpool.

Performance on the route, which the group started to run in February, had been encouraging, with passenger volumes higher than expected due to higher road congestion in the Leeds/Manchester corridor.

At Scotrail, which First took over from rival National Express last month, the handover had gone smoothly and the group's initial view was that passenger revenues were strong, the company said.