EAST Lothian Council has confirmed the contracts that will replace the supported bus services being withdrawn by First bus.

In the coming weeks, First plans to scrap 13 routes which run through East Lothian, with up to 40 jobs at its Musselburgh depot under threat.

Other bus service providers stepped in to take over threatened routes after the council retendered the service contracts.

The former 44B service between Pencaitland and Edinburgh is being taken on by East Lothian Buses - a new subsidiary of Lothian Buses. Its new 113 service will connect Pencaitland and Ormiston with Musselburgh and Edinburgh.

The 110 Cockenzie-to-Elphinstone bus is being renumbered as the 328 service and will be run, from July 1, by Edinburgh Coach Lines.

Haddington-based Prentice Coaches, meanwhile, takes over the 121 Haddington-to-North Berwick service and the 123 Haddington-to-Gifford circle, both starting on July 2.

A Prentice spokesman explained that new stops had been added to both of the services.

He said: "The 121 route will now serve Merryhatton Garden Centre, Drem and Fenton Barns for the first time as well as continuing to visit the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune. This bus also provide a link for the first time between Haddington and Drem rail station.

"The circle nature of the 123 has been restored and it will serve New Winton once again.

"Several journeys will also go via Glenkinchie Distillery to again provide transport links to our local tourist attractions.

"Two new Scottish-built ADL Enviro 200 state-of-the-art service buses are on order with the first one expected at the end of next week. These vehicles feature low floor entry for both wheelchairs and buggies as well as the very latest low emission engines." The 129 Seton Sands to Ocean Terminal will be operated by Dunbar's Eve Coaches from July 2.

Councillor Michael Veitch, depute council leader and cabinet spokesman for transport, said: "Due to the timescale involved it has not been possible to have all these services handed over to the new providers on the same date and therefore we thought it necessary to include the details of when each new service starts.

"It is, of course, very frustrating for regular bus users that there will be�small gap in services, however I'm confident the new services will demonstrate a significant improvement in the quality of these routes." Timetables and fare structures for the routes are available on the respective company websites.

The future of a number of other commercial services which First plans to withdraw is still to be confirmed.

The company has stated that the former 44C (Macmerry-Tranent) service would be retained as an X8 service, while the firm will also still operate the 625 (Whitecraig-Elphinstone Research Centre) for the foreseeable future.