Bus service cuts

9.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 8th May 2009

Evening and Weekend bus services will be cut after the county council elections on 4th June

In this year's budget the Tories included bus service cuts as one of the ways of paying for a lower council tax increase than in previous years. More than 10% of the subsidy will be cut next year.

Details of the service cuts will not be announced until after the county council elections on 4th June are safely out of the way, as the Tories know they will be very unpopular.

Most bus routes in Surrey have some form of subsidy and it is likely that frequencies will be reduced and that evening and weekend services will come under threat. The cuts in subsidies for evening and weekend buses will take effect when contracts are renewed later in the year.

The Lib Dems think this is madness. These cuts will disproportionately hurt pensioners, disabled people and those who can't afford a car. In any case, we should be encouraging people to use public transport for environmental reasons.