WORCESTERSHIRE County Council chiefs are considering investing in a satellite navigation system worth around £2m to track Worcestershire's buses - despite hoping to cut funding for the fleet.

Transport managers hope giving passengers the chance to log on to a website or send a text message from their mobile phones to find out when the next bus is due will improve reliability on the ailing system.

The plans, which might go before councillors within the year and could begin to be realised by 2006, come despite the council cabinet warning last November that it wants to withdraw financial backing for certain routes around Worcestershire.

However, under local government rules, money spent on an authority's infrastructure cannot be used for day-to-day running costs. So funds saved cannot be redirected from the bus service support to pay for the satellite scheme.

The hi-tech initiative works using a satellite global positioning system that tracks vehicles' locations to within five metres. Computers on board each bus then relay their position to a central computer system which posts information on the web and to mobiles. Major bus stops also display information on digital read-out boards.

Maggie Clark, delivery and operations manager at the council, said bus users would appreciate how life could be made easier by the technology.

"Bus operators themselves want to see a small improvement over lots and lots of their buses. From my point of view, in a rural area or where buses only visit infrequently, the benefit comes when you can check when that bus is on its way," she said.

Principal engineer John Swift, who has seen the machinery in action in Leicester, is equally supportive. "It enables people to know when a bus is going to turn up and people like that reliability and confidence," said Mr Swift.

John Gillam, head of transport systems at Leicester City Council, where satellite navigation system has been running for the past three years, said authorities had spent around £500,000 setting up the service with more than £1.5m coming from central government funding.

He added that by the spring 75 per cent of Leicestershire will be benefiting from the scheme which has been "very well received".