The new yellow buses will cost �18.7m

Following pilot schemes in Hebden Bridge and Ilkley, 150 more of the buses are to be bought and will provide services to around 300 schools.

The aim to is give children a safe form of transport and to reduce traffic on the roads.

Thirty new vehicles will be introduced in September with 60 more in 2005 and the final 60 in 2006.

The �18.7m needed to buy the buses has come from the Department for Transport.

Operating company Metro is in talks with Local Education Authorities to decide where the first phase of new vehicles should be introduced.

Chairman Mick Lyons said: "Yellow buses have already caught the imagination of parents and pupils as well as significantly cutting school gate congestion.

"Metro is already leading the way in school transport developments and setting high standards that could be implemented across the UK."

More than 1,100 children in largely rural areas currently use the yellow bus services in West Yorkshire.