LOCAL politicians have denounced the loss of further bus services.
The service cuts follow the loss of some evening and weekend services in January.
Bus operator Stagecoach has announced it is axing the No 19 service between Aldershot and Farnham via Weybourne.
This would result in the withdrawal of the only daytime service along the A287 Frensham Road through Lower Bourne, the loss of a service between Farnham and Haslemere via Frensham, Churt, Beacon Hill and Hindhead and the reduction in frequency of a Farnham-Aldershot direct service from every 15 minutes to every half an hour.
Town councillors "deplore" the loss of the No 19 and the axing of a section the No 46 service between Elstead and Godalming, which is the only bus serving Waverley Lane and residents on the B3001.
At a meeting of the town council's environmental services committee, councillors agreed a resolution that read: "Farnham Town Council deplores the spiral of decline in bus services, which is in contravention to national traffic management policies and the Local Transport Plan and increases the reliance on cars."
Carlo Genziani said a possible reason fewer people use buses in Frensham is that they are so unreliable that people "lose faith" in them.
Bob Frost attacked Stagecoach for the "unilateral" action.
The cuts to the commercial, unsubsidised services were to have come into effect on September 26, but Surrey County Council has stepped in with funding to ensure they continue until February 19.
Despite this, the county council has come under fire from Simon Cordon, Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for South West Surrey.
Mr Cordon said the fresh service cuts follow the county council's decision to withdraw funding to subsidise some evening and weekend services in January.
The county council said it could no longer afford to subsidise Stagecoach's spiralling costs, but Mr Cordon said that, according to Stagecoach South commercial director Edward Hodgeson, the council's withdrawal of this support was a "contributing factor" to Stagecoach's decision to cut further services.
Mr Cordon claimed the loss of revenue from the evening and weekend services has made some Monday-to-Saturday daytime services no longer viable.
Mr Hodgeson confirmed what Mr Cordon had said. He added that wages and fuel costs were key in causing above-inflation price rises. The company had only tendered for inflation-linked price rises to Surrey County council, but was denied funding, whereas other operators who quoted above inflation rises got support.
A county council spokesman said bus contractors should have included any above-inflation costs in their daily costs during the tendering process.
She said it would cost the county council £160,000 a year to subsidise the Monday-Saturday daytime services, a figure she described as "unsustainable".
She said the county council will be consulting about all the bus services when they go out to tender in December.