Under-used bus routes facing axe

Councillors want to build up a picture of bus use

Thousands of bus travellers in Cumbria are to be asked about the services they use so the county council can decide which routes to carry on funding.

Only 10% of bus routes in the county are subsidised by Cumbria County Council and it stressed the shake-up would affect very few services.

Feedback from 10,000 surveys will be used to decide on the changes to be made from April 2008.

The questionnaires will be handed out by bus drivers on the affected routes.

Potential impact

The questionnaire will ask passengers where they get on and off, what time of day they got on the bus, how frequently they use it, where they are travelling to and whether they have any alternative transport for the journey.

Ian Stewart, from Cumbria County Council, said: "We've never had any formal criteria before for how and where we spend public money on subsidising public transport.

"We are collecting information so that we can build a proper picture of the potential impact of reducing the number of buses we support.

"We need to be careful that taxpayers' money is spent wisely and we're not doubling up resources by providing a bus when alternative options are there."