Buses could run to Bath's park and rides until almost midnight in a major shakeup of the service.

The facilities at Lansdown, Odd Down and Newbridge that currently do not run past 8.40pm Monday to Saturday and just after 6pm on Sundays.

The West of England Combined Authority is asking potential contractors to price up running services to and from the city centre until as late as 11.40pm on weekdays and Saturdays or until after 10pm on Sundays.

There is currently an hourly service to the Royal United Hospital from Odd Down but the new eight-year contracts could link the hospital to the Lansdown and Newbridge park and rides.

Tender documents show that in 2020/21 during the height of the coronavirus lockdown 319,564 passengers used the three services, bringing in £237,080 in revenue. As of December 2021 passenger numbers had recovered and more than doubled to 767,956, with a combined spend of £635,461, almost half of which was at Lansdown. Figures for 2019/20 are not given.

The Weca tender suggests the price of an adult return ticket could be cut from £3.60 in the week to £2.50, while up to five could travel together on a group ticket for just £5.40 in the first year of the new contract.

It also floats the idea of £4 a day "pay before travel car park option" for up to seven people, payable before boarding the bus, and possible overnight parking options.

A Weca spokesperson said: "The current Bath park and ride contract comes to an end on August 27. In order to award a new contract, the West of England Combined Authority in partnership with Bath and North East Somerset Council need to put out a new tender to bus operators.

"Within the tender is a request for operators to provide prices for different operating models – for example operators have been asked to bid for passengers to pay individually, by group ticket or to pay per car (this is a price per car for bus travel and not car parking which will still be free for bus passengers).

"The tender also includes options for the services to run later in the evenings, which is an aspiration of the combined authority for all services in the region. Until the tender process is completed later in the year we are unable to comment on exactly what the new service provision will look like."

B&NES Council has previously revealed plans to turn the park and ride sites into transport interchanges that would act as stepping stones between the city and the rest of North East Somerset, with options to hire bikes or e-scooters and bespoke buildings with lockers and showers.

The tender documents say: "The park and ride sites will be developed as transport hubs during the life of this contract. Other scheduled services may call at the site for travel to destinations other than Bath City Centre. It is not anticipated that this will cause significant abstraction of passengers from the contracted services."

Firms can express an interest in the contracts by clicking HERE: the bid site.