PASSENGERS will benefit from 100 extra buses per year by the end of the summer, according to the Mayor of London.

Ken Livingstone has promised Ealing a comprehensive improvements package that will transform the borough's services from May, depending on the results of consultation.

The move, announced on Monday this week (Feb 4), forms part of the Mayor's Transport Strategy to introduce 200 new buses to London every year.

But many of the buses being introduced in Ealing will replace old stock rather than being additional vehicles.

All the buses will have low floors designed to make it easier for pensioners and passengers with pushchairs and prams.

Rufus Barnes, director of London Transport Users' Committee, said: "Anything that improves Ealing's bus services is good news. The bus is London's most under-used resource and I hope this proposal can be delivered."

The proposals include a new service for the Medway Estate, in Perivale, and increased frequency on the E2, E3, E5 and E6 routes during peak hours.

It also features an extension of routes E5 and E6 to provide more links across Greenford, and an all-new service, the E11, between Greenford Broadway and Ealing Common.

The E10 service will be revised between Greenford and Ealing to operate via Scotch Common, West Ealing and Castlebar Road, Ealing, a new half hourly Sunday service will be introduced, terminating at Ealing Broadway, and the E10 will be diverted to serve Greenford's Ferrymead Estate.

The proposals are currently out for consultation. Send comments to Customer Services, (ref: Ealing), London Buses, 172 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9TN.