PLANS to cut the main Forest bus services to and from Gloucester even further could leave residents with virtually no public transport at evenings and weekends.

The county council says the dwindling numbers of passengers using certain services results in a subsidy of up to £15 per return trip, well above the subsidy cap of £8.

The council is now carrying out an in-bus survey to garner public opinion on the economy options being considered.

The main routes affected are 30/31 Gloucester-Cinderford-Coleford, 23 Gloucester-Lydney Coleford and 24 Gloucester Mitcheldean Joys Green.

Bus users are being given three options to choose from: Option 1 – remove late evening services; Option 2 – remove Sunday services; Option 3 - only run late evening services (after 8pm) on Fridays and Saturdays, and a reduced service on Sundays.

County Councillor Graham Morgan, the Labour Party’s spokesman for infrastructure, which includes bus services, said: “I’m not very happy about this.

“We are a very rural area and are isolated enough as it stands.

“I am certainly no advocate of empty buses, but there have to be other ways to save money. We need to be promoting public transport, not cutting it off.”

Max Coborn, mayor of Cinderford and member Forest of Dean District Council said: “There’s no joined up thinking here. I can accept that some cuts may be necessary, but to simply chop off services from the top is not the answer.

“They could, for example spread out the frequency of services rather than cut late evening services.

“There is no consideration here for people who rely on public transport to get to work and occasionally work late.

"It’s the same for people arriving in Gloucester late on the train from London or elsewhere.

“The Sunday services are a joke already.

"This is completely over the top.

“It’s a vicious circle. The more you cut services the less people will uses the services that are left which will lead to more cuts until the Forest of Dean has no bus services at all.”

Anna-Marie Daniels, Community Transport Partnership Co-ordinator, for Forest of Dean District Council, said: “The county council undertook a public consultation last year in order to inform changes to bus services, some of which affected the Forest of Dean area.

“However, for some services, the results were inconclusive and a firm proposal for changes to services could not be developed.”

On-bus surveys will take place over the next few weeks. The survey is also online at glooucestershire.gov.uk/bussurvey .

Other services under the microscope are Coleford area shopper services 701, 707, 709, 738 and Newent area shopper services 643, 678, 679, 677.

A Gloucestershire County Council spokesman said that the final decision would be made by the county council cabinet based on all the data available, including public consultation.