Services linking the Bordon area to Alton, Petersfield and Liphook on Saturdays are also to be slashed.
Opposing the cuts, local county councillor Tony Ludlow pointed out that the loss of these valued local services is part of a £400,000 cost-cutting exercise which, he fears, could have a devastating effect on passengers living in the Alton, Bordon and Petersfield area.
The news has caused outrage among opposition party members, who have described the Conservative-run county councilÕs decision to slash services as Òa body blow to bus-usersÓ.
The routes affected will include the 28 and X28 Alton to Basingstoke; 13 Alton to Liphook via Bordon; 72 and X72 Alton to Petersfield via Selborne and Greatham and the 221/2 Bordon/Whitehill shopping bus, which operates a circular route from Mill Chase Road to the Forest Shopping Centre, via Whitehill and Oakhanger.
They are part of a package affecting 37 routes across the county, aimed at achieving savings of £165,000.
And, warns Dr Ludlow: ÒThe Conservative budget required savings in bus subsidy of £400,000, so there must be worse to come.Ó
He is particularly concerned for those with friends and relatives at North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke who may find themselves unable to visit on Saturdays.
ÒThis can only add to the stress of both patients and families at what is already a painful time,Ó he said.
According to Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Keith House, the current round of cuts will result in the loss of 559 buses each week during May and June.
ÒIt is no surprise that this will happen immediately after the May elections and not before,Ó said Mr House, who, like Dr Ludlow, believes there could be yet more cuts to services if extra cash cannot be found.
ÒWe know that on current prices the budget is short by £400,000. On these figures this could mean another 1,000 buses each week being axed,Ó he said.
The Lib Dems are strongly opposed to reducing bus services at a time when pressure is on to reduce car travel and encourage people back onto public transport.
Keith House believes the Conservatives should Òthink again and restore vital public bus servicesÓ.
ÒIf we are serious about reducing traffic congestion, the only way to do it is to provide a decent and reliable bus service. Hampshire Conservatives are cutting services for those most in need of them and creating more traffic congestion through extra car journeys,Ó he said.
ÒIt is absurd at a time when the planet needs fewer car journeys,Ó agreed Dr Ludlow, who is keen to highlight the alternative budget proposed by the Lib Dems and which, he believes, shows the cuts to be unnecessary.
In it, the Lib Dems advocate service improvements which would mean allocating £262,000 for new rural bus services while taking measures to avoid making the current £400,000 cuts.
Funding would come, in part, from a general tightening up of the slack in overall budgets.
Areas highlighted would include a reduction in corporate communications costs, the cancellation of the third edition of ÒHampshire NowÓ, and a modest reduction in the amount departments can spend on agency staff and contractors when staff positions fall vacant.
Tony Ludlow was concerned also that, following the recent change in operational practice within Hampshire County Council, the decision to make cuts in bus services had been made by a single member of cabinet, Keith Estlin.
While Dr Ludlow has written to Mr Estlin, asking him Òto justify these outrageous cuts in servicesÓ, he is not the only one demanding an answer.
Labour spokesperson Mike Roberts is among those considering whether a motion of Òno confidenceÓ in Mr Estlin should be tabled.
Labour too, he said, would be asking Òwhether this is the first tranche of cuts and will there be others?Ó