CHANGES announced last week have given hope that a dwindling Bordon bus service may be saved from the chop when funding is reviewed in January. The 221 service has attracted fewer passengers since changing from a cicular route around the town to a longer, slower route through residential areas. Whitehill town councillor Colin Hayden warned last month the county council had indicated it would not keep funding the service when the contract came up for renewal in the new year. But after a meeting with the council's buses' representative, Mr Hayden and fellow town councillor Adam Carew have announced the service will revert to a circular route and probably become hourly. This is expected to encourage back passengers, but the service remains under threat from the council's cost-cutting exercises and feared disinterest from operator Stagecoach. Whitehill Town Council is looking for an alternative operator as a precaution, intending to approach AMK and Bordon-based voluntary group Comm-unity Transport East Ham- pshire. Mr Hayden had argued that including Lindford on the route would cater for lots of villagers who shopped in Bordon and would help to make the service more viable, but this was denied as the 18 service already covered Lindford. Although daytime journeys by the 18 seem safe from subsidy cuts, the town council is looking to establish new bus stops at the Forest Shopping Centre and in Tesco's forecourt to make the service more useful to Lindford users. The future of evening and Sunday journeys by the 18 is uncertain, while the 13 service - connecting Alton, Whitehill and Liphook - will probably end up running only on school days. After nearly being axed in September because of a lack of passengers, the 73, between Bordon and Petersfield, has experienced falling numbers and looks unlikely to survive after April. Requests by the town council for the one-day-a-week 73 service to be shifted to cater for the midweek Peters-field market have still not had a response. Mr Carew described the 73 service as a "use it or lose it situation".
