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| Original image via Stagecoach (Mash-Up via Internet) |
Lancashire County Council is reminding bus users to check for any changes to services due to start from Sunday 3 April as service cuts kick, the result of swingeing Tory government funding cuts
A number of changes are due to come in from Sunday, many as a result of a savings being made to Lancashire County Council’s budget to support buses which has reduced from around £7m to £2m as part of £65m savings agreed in February.
The Council says the cuts were one of many difficult decisions it faced in agreeing this year’s budget, with the need to find more than £200m additional savings over the next five years.
68 of the 113 routes currently operated with support from the county council will continue from Monday 3rd April on a full or partial basis, though there may be changes to the routes and times of these services.
The county council has reallocated the new budget of just £2m and worked with bus operators to enable these services to continue, with the aim of prioritising support for services that help people get to work and access education and other vital services.
Those bus services which the county council will no longer be supporting will either be run by the bus operators on a commercial basis or will stop running after 2nd April.
In February, Bus Users UK warned the bus service cuts could be illegal. Some of routes that were originally set to be discontinued but have been saved by public pressure, including the work of Lancaster District Bus Users’ Group.
• You can check the changes to buses at www.lancashire.gov.uk – search ‘bus changes
• The following local services have been withdrawn completely – 1 Silverdale Shuttle (incorporated in new service 51); 5B Brookhouse – Morecambe; 5C Carnforth – Morecambe; 55C Carnforth – Lancaster RLI; 81A Lancaster – Kirkby Lonsdale via Gressingham