FEARS that Fernhurst residents will be without a vital bus service have been allayed after the county council found the cash to run it until 2007. The number 70 bus from Haslemere to Midhurst via Fernhurst is to be subsided by West Sussex County Council until May 2007 to tie in with the council's contracts for bus services. The bus currently runs from Guildford to Midhurst, but its operator Stagecoach has said that a reduction in passengers has left it uneconomical. This meant that unless it was subsidised it would face the axe. Surrey County Council had already agreed to fund the section of the route that runs through Surrey until September. However uncertainty still surrounded the fate of the route south of Haslemere which runs through West Sussex because the county council had been slower in making its decision. Although passenger numbers using the number 70 have reported to have dropped, the service remains a lifeline for bus users because it is the only commercially-operated bus route linking Fernhurst to both Midhurst and Haslemere. Fernhurst Parish Council had led a campaign to preserve the route in West Sussex. This week West Sussex County Council's cabinet member for highways and transport Lieutenant Colonel Tex Pemberton announced that he had used his delegated powers to step in with the cash for a temporary reprieve. "My decision means that the service will continue until the end of May 2007, when the current contract for supporting bus services in the Chichester district comes to an end," he explained. "It will then be reviewed together with the other services that we support." Colonel Pemberton said that he took his decision because he realised the vital importance of the route to the residents of Fernhurst without a car. "The 70 is popular, and well used particularly by young people travelling from Fernhurst to Chichester via Midhurst," he said. "I am glad to remove the uncertainty that has been hanging over the West Sussex part of the route. "I am well aware that the bus is a lifeline for many people in a large rural area." However, he warned that tough decisions lay ahead when the subsidises for all of the routes in the district were under review. He issued a "use it or loose it" warning and said that frequent use of it was the best way for Fernhurst residents to preserve the future of the number 70 bus. "Although this service will continue, our budget for supporting bus services is under increasing pressure, and costs are escalating," he warned. "The message to people who have a bus service they value must be to use it or run the risk of losing it." Col Pemberton has also asked for a report on expanding the popular Midhurst-based demand responsive DoRiS bus service, that runs to routes chosen by its passengers. The on-demand service operates in the heart of the Chichester district and covers villages such as Lurgashall, Midhurst, Milland, Northchapel and Petworth. "This innovative service has gone from strength to strength, and I am hoping we can extend the rural area that it serves," Col Pemberton said.
