BUS users in the Farnham area let out a sigh of relief this month after a feared financial review of subsidised services resulted in little material changes.

A public consultation was undertaken by Surrey County Council between January and March as part of a three-year review of all bus services in Surrey to reduce financial subsidies paid to bus operators from £7.3 million to £5.3 million by 2017.

At the time of the consultation it was suggested that in order to meet the level of financial savings required could result in the withdrawal of bus services from a number of communities.

More than 2,600 people responded to the consultation and, after careful consideration of alternative options, full year savings of £773,000 have been identified with £236,000 of these savings being achieved by renegotiation with bus operators of certain existing local bus contracts to continue operating existing timetables at lower cost.

As a consequence no community has lost their bus service as originally anticipated. Indeed there are even some small improvements for some passengers.

The following changes to bus timetables and routes operated by Stagecoach in the Farnham area have been implemented:

• Ahead of the consultation it appeared that Badshot Lea would be a loser after it was suggested that the service to Aldershot could be withdrawn and journeys to Farnham would be reduced and only operated as a lengthy one-direction circular that would have also served Heath End and Weybourne. Badshot Lea has, however, not suffered as much as expected and the revised service for Badshot Lea from September 4 is being provided by route 16 rather than route 46 and will continue to operate to Aldershot and provide direct journeys to and from Farnham in both directions Monday to Saturday.

The level of Monday to Saturday service has, however, been reduced and will now operate on an irregular basis rather than the hourly service that has been operated.

• There has also been no significant change to the level of bus service in Rowledge as feared, although the timetable has been slightly revised with departures from Rowledge now being a few minutes earlier than before.

• In Shortheath and Wrecclesham there has been a slight revision to routes. Route 17 which used to return from Rowledge to Farnham via Little Green Lane and Greenfield Road now operates via School Hill restoring a bus service along this road.

• Little Green Lane and Greenfield Road are now served by route 16 on which additional journeys are now operated which has resulted in a Monday to Friday afternoon and Saturdays service being restored to Shortheath and Ridgway Roads.

The level of service operated by route 16 along Little Green Lane and Greenfield Road is reduced from operating hourly to a less regular timetable with no early morning journeys before 8am.

Route 16 will, however, restore buses operating in both directions rather than as a one way loop. Route 16 has also been revised to operate via Tilford Road rather than Menin Way and Waverley Lane.

• Route 46 now only operates between Farnham and Guildford with the section of route between Farnham and Aldershot being withdrawn and replaced by route 16. Within Farnham the route now operates via Menin Way and Tilford Road rather than along the full length of Waverley Lane.

• The last bus on route 18 from Farnham to Whitehill on Monday to Saturday now operates five minutes later departing from Farnham Station at 8.34pm rather than 8.29pm. This will provide a more reliable connection with the 8.26pm train from London Waterloo.

Responding to the changes, public transport expert and town councillor David Beaman said: “After the suggested possible outcomes during the consultation period it seems that this time the level of bus service has ‘got away’ with a financial review resulting in little changes being made.

“It should, however, be noted that 32 per cent of the savings (£236,000 of £733,000) has been achieved by renegotiation with bus operators of certain existing contracts at a lower cost.

“This is unlikely to be the end of bus cuts - we have already lost the direct bus   service between Farnham and Fleet, the bus service between Heath End, Sandy Hill and Reading, the Coxbridge Flyer, and late evening buses between Farnham and Whitehill.

“During the past year there was a threat to the continued operation of the bus service between Farnham and Alton and the bus service to Folly Hill only continues on a much reduced frequency. 

“Abellio have announced the withdrawal at the end of December of a number of services in the Woking area and today’s ‘sigh of relief’ over Farnham’s bus services may be short lived.

“But can any further cuts in bus subsidy be justified? Bus subsidies account for only 0.1 per cent of Surrey County Council’s total budget so need to look elsewhere if any significant savings are needed.

“Any further cuts in bus service provision would result in people being isolated which would result in Surrey having to bear additional social and economic costs that could be greater than any savings made in bus subsidies.”