DISCUSSIONS will get under way tomorrow (Saturday) about the best way to increase the provision of public transport locally.
Parish and town councils are meeting in Liss to discuss the results of a survey by East Hampshire District Council which examined which buses residents use and why.
The survey showed that more travellers use the bus to get to Petersfield than to any other neighbouring town. The route is the one which has been axed by Stagecoach and Hampshire County Council has refused to step in, arguing that there is not the demand.
EHDC transport officer Gwil Williams has spent the past few weeks analysing the survey results.
Sixty per cent of bus users who took part used the now-axed 38 route to Petersfield. Around 49 per cent use the number 18 service to travel to Farnham, four per cent use the same service to Haslemere and three per cent use the number 13 to travel to Alton.
But no students answered the questionnaire so the figure for the number 13 bus is far lower than in reality, as most attend Alton College.
Most journeys are made daily or weekly for getting to work,to shop or visit friends.
In relation to the Portsmouth to Aldershot number 38 service - which has been axed between Liss Forest and Whitehill - the survey found that some of its former users had been left cut off from vital services.
A significant number said that it had left them isolated, while others have no way to visit shops, vital services or friends. Alternatives, such as using the Bordon-rail-link bus to Liphook before getting a train to Petersfield, were seen as costly and time consuming.
Eighty per cent of the people who answered the questionnaire said that they would use the number 38 bus, which travelled through Blackmoor and Greatham, if the part of the service which has been withdrawn was reinstated.