ALTON’S Labour Party members have raised a petition condemning the “drastic cuts” in a bus service to the eastern end of the town, which they plan to hand into Hampshire County Council.

The cuts to the service serving the Wootey, Manor and Cut Pound areas of Alton came into effect on Monday when Stagecoach South scaled down the routes served by the 38 and 65 buses.

The new timetable has seen changes to the 38 Petersfield-Alton service, which removes the Nursery Road/Edward Road loop, and the 65 Alton to Guildford bus which, the company claims, was unable to meet its schedule due to hold ups in Farnham and Guildford and will revert to an express service with no town centre add-ons.

Instead, it is replacing the two town centre services with a number 9 bus service which will make four journeys, over a two-hour period on weekday mornings, starting at 10am from Alton High Street and serving Manor Close and Wootey’s Ravens Court shopping parade, with the last bus returning to the High Street at 12.05pm.

Passengers are up in arms about the change which they see as depriving them of a working service into town, which does not leave them enough time to shop or attend appointments, and does not run on a Saturday.

While Alton Town Council was due to meet up with Stagecoach representatives and to discuss the matter further at a planning and transportation committee meeting on Wednesday, local Labour supporters were out and about on the buses securing signatures for their petition.

Nick O’Brien, transport spokesman for Alton Labour Party, said: “Residents are furious that they were not consulted about the changes that affect so many with low income, mobility issues and parents with children who rely on the bus service to access Alton town centre.

“Bus services are little more than a skeleton service for the residents of the Wootey’s area already and to slash them in this way at almost no notice is unacceptable. The Conservative Hampshire councillors, whose massive cuts are the cause of this issue, may not use the buses themselves but are duty bound to protect these services for the members of their electorate who most desperately need them.”

And he added: “Initial findings show that more than 90 per cent of residents wished to sign the petition and almost all those interviewed were angry at the way their community has been left stranded due to the Conservative cuts.”

Commenting on the cuts to the Stagecoach bus service in Alton, Rob Humby, Hampshire County Council’s executive member for environment and transport, said: “Around 87 per cent of bus services in Hampshire operate without any public subsidy. These particular services around Alton are all run commercially by the bus operator, so any changes due to passenger numbers or passenger travel patterns are for Stagecoach to decide. The county council does not subsidise any sections of the routes where these changes are being made.”

While welcoming the drive behind the bus service petition, Alton mayor Dean Phillips said the cuts to the bus service were a concern for members of the entire community, whatever their political persuasion. His view was that it was “easy to provide the wrong service so that it becomes financially unviable and the bus company can justify doing away with it”.

Mr Phillips believes that if Stagecoach was to provide the right service, it would be well used and would make money, but if that means looking at a different way of providing that service, for example engaging with local organisations who own minibuses and would like to put them to greater use, then that could be the way forward.

It appears to be all hands on deck to try to resolve the situation.

Town resident Jeremy Bayliss has also be asking fellow passengers for their views and, he says, the general consensus appears to be that the new No 9 route would suffice if the service could be extended into the afternoons and Saturdays.

In the meantime, ward councillor Derek Gardener is working closely with residents to champion their cause while others were looking at ways of providing an alternative solution should Stagecoach be unable to improve the current offering.