PETERSFIELD bus users are urging Hampshire County Council to consult them before they decide whether or not to keep two town bus routes. A decision is set to be made next week to decide on the fate of bus 94, from the town centre to Penns Place, and bus 95, which links Petersfield with surrounding villages. But Tony Shaw, who represents transport on Petersfield Tomorrow's town partnership, is keen for regular users to have their say. In a letter to The Herald, he said: "...there has been no consultation at all with the users. "There also appears to have been no consultation with the district council or the town council on the future of these services. "Other county councils carry out extensive consultation with passengers on specific proposals, and consider their views before they draw up final timetables and negotiate new contracts with operators," he said Mr Shaw added that in a recent Petersfield Tomorrow questionnaire, more than 80 per cent of the 600 responses supported better bus services in the town, more accessible buses, and better public transport information. "I remain convinced that new contracts for the 94 and 95, which include these features, would soon increase passenger numbers and reduce the level of support needed from the county council. "What we must avoid is an announcement from Winchester in the next few weeks that these vital bus links are to be further cut or withdrawn without a chance for any of us to comment or make suggestions. "As these are public services supported by public funds, it is surely right that the users and rate payers should be asked to comment on any new timetables and have their views carefully considered." A spokesman from Hampshire County Council told The Herald that there were "encouraging" signs and some bids had been made by bus providers. She said: "There has been a problem with the tendering of the subsidy contract for these two services, in that in the original tendering round, we noticed an administrative error which meant that the results had to be declared void, and we had to undertake repeat tendering to a tight timescale. "The repeat-tendering round has just been completed and we have received several interesting bids from operators to run services 94 and 95, which is encouraging. "The tendering results now have to be submitted to the executive member for the environment for decision day on December 12. New subsidy contracts will run from January 2. "There have been extensive consultations with councillors, parish councils and neighbourhood groups about bus services during the course of 2006, and our transport officers have attended meetings at Petersfield and Buriton where services 94 and 95 were discussed at length. Many bus users were in attendance at both meetings," he added.
