Hampshire County Council (HCC) have launched a ‘Future Services’ consultation on the future of public services in order to reduce money, including public transport, to meet a £132 million budget shortfall by April 2025. The consultation is open now and runs until Sunday 31st March. There are several types of council-funded public transport services in the county:
Bus Services – Normal stage carriage bus services. Receives £800,000 to support 58 bus routes around the county, with a further 35 routes contracted with funding from other sources including housing developers, the school budget or other local authorities. The 93 routes provide around 9% of bus journeys in the county.
Taxishare – Bookable timetabled service typically covering withdrawn bus routes. Receives £157,000 a year to run, with 18,000 passenger journeys being made 2022/3, with a cost to passengers of £1 per journey.
Dial-a-Ride and Call & Go – Bookable door to door service. Receives £50,000 a year to run, with 54,000 passenger journeys being made 2022/3, with a cost to passengers of £6/£7 for a local/longer return journey.
Group Hire Service – Minibus hire to voluntary or community groups. Receives £142,000 a year to run, with 5,500 hires carrying 59,000 individual passengers.
Wheels to Work – Moped hire scheme for 16-25 year olds. Receives £73,000 to run, with 22 mopeds hired by 34 people travelling around 700 miles per hire period.
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Concessionary Travel
HCC also fund concessionary passes for older persons and disabled persons, through which operators receive a reimbursement rate for the free journeys made by holders. The council are obliged to provide this scheme for travel between 0930 and 2300 on weekdays and all day at weekends, however they additionally go above the legal requirement as follows:
- Funding for older person passes to be used between 0900 and 0930 on certain infrequent routes, at a cost of £1,500 to the council per year.
- Funding for disabled passes to be used outside of the weekday time restriction, at a cost of £70,000 to the council per year.
- Funding for disabled pass holders who cannot travel alone to apply for a pass allowing a companion to travel with them for free, at a cost of £3,000 to the council per year.
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Proposals
To help achieve their spending reduction, the council are proposing several things by April 2025:-
- Withdrawing council funding from subsidised bus services.
- Withdrawing council funding from the ‘Dial-a-Ride’, ‘Call & Go’, ‘Taxishare’, ‘Group Hire Services’ and ‘Wheels to Work’ schemes.
- Withdrawing the three concessionary pass benefits that are beyond the legal minimum, so both disabled and older person pass holders are restricted to 0930-2300 for free weekday travel (but still any time weekends), plus disabled persons losing their right to a companion pass.
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Affected routes in our area
For reference, the following services in our area receive funding from Hampshire County Council. While withdrawal of funding may not automatically mean they would be withdrawn completely, should that happen then there is a good chance that operators may not feel they are financially viable to continue on a commercial basis (hence them receiving funding to start with), so they may well be reduced if not withdrawn completely.
Bus Services
- 7: Aldershot – Fleet – Hartley Wintney
- 9: Farnborough western circular
- 23: Haslemere – Bordon (- Liphook)
- 38: Alton – Selborne – Liss – Petersfield
- 41: Alresford – Axford – Basingstoke
- 63: Winchester – Twyford – Owslebury
- 67: Winchester – Alresford – Petersfield
- 94: Petersfield - Froxfield / Buriton
- 95: Winchester – Micheldever – East Stratton
- 206: Alton – Froyle – Binsted – Alton
- 208: Alton – Medstead – Bentworth – Alton
- 240: Alresford – Bighton – Ropley
- 250: Liphook town service
- MV3: Petersfield – West Meon – Soberton
Routes 7, 9, 23, 38 and 67 are operated by Stagecoach South. 41, 63, 95, 206, 208 and 240 are operated by Cresta Coaches. 94 and 250 are operated by AMK. MV3 is operated by Meon Valley Community Bus Association.
Taxishare
- 70: Ewshot – Crondall – Farnham
- 205: Tisted – Farringdon – Alton
- 200A: Hart District – Basingstoke
- 200B: Long Sutton – Well – Basingstoke
- 200F: Long Sutton – Well – Fleet
- 210: Long Sutton – Greywell – Basingstoke
- 333: Bramshill – Rotherwick – Basingstoke
Dial-a-Ride / Call & Go
- Alton Dial-a-Ride
- Basingstoke Dial-a-Ride
- East Hampshire District Call & Go
- Fleet Link
- Rushmoor Dial-a-Ride
- Yateley
Group Hire Service
- East Hampshire District
- Hart, Rushmoor and Yateley
Wheels to Work
- All areas
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What next?
You can have your say on the public transport part of the consultation by clicking here.
You can view a bit more detail on the services affected and how much each currently costs, along with passenger numbers, by clicking here.
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Hants & Surrey Bus Blog 
Many years ago (around 2011?), Dorset CC undertook a review of their supported rural bus services. They used a metric of “at least 10 passengers per service bus hour” to determine survival, so if less than 10 pax travelled on journeys, then it wasn’t of use to the community, and should be withdrawn.
In the wider bus industry, there was considerable concern about the size of the cuts, but actually it has become accepted that perhaps Dorset CC might have been right.
Fast forward to 2023-2024, and we’re seeing more Local Transport Authorities questioning value for money, and rightly so. On some of the routes mentioned in the east of the County, the subsidy per passenger is around £4 per trip (Route 23 @ £3.83). Elsewhere, it’s as high as £7.32 per trip (Route 95-Petersfield local).
Route 38 is at £2.36 per trip; Route 67 is at £2.95 per trip. These two routes convey students, sometimes for long distances; one wonders about loadings during school holidays.
Frankly, LTAs need to seriously look at usage of some of these services (and the TaxiShare and Dial A Ride services as well) . . . if subsidies are so high, then they’re no longer relevent and should be withdrawn. Concentrate on bus routes that passengers use, and support marginal journeys that will add overall value to the timetable.
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I am afraid I disagree. Bus services may not be profitable but they may be essential to certain passengers. It’s sad that this hard-nosed, economically-conservative attitude is becoming normalised, and is just another symptom of how the UK political scene is drifting further and further to the right with each passing year.
It seems that “public service” is a dirty word in the 2020s and providing decent public services is seen, thanks to the predominant politics of the past 14 years, as an “unaffordable luxury”. The Government and Hampshire County Council may have this kind of politics, but it doesn’t mean we all do. These services are essential for some; it may only be a small number, but it’s a small number who will struggle without them.
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