A VOCAL campaign is growing to save a bus route in the heart of rural Worcestershire.

With Worcestershire County Council set to axe up to 130 bus service subsidies in a bid to save £2.5 million, people are cranking up a campaign to save the Pershore Plum Line – no 383.

The LMS-operated bus runs between Pershore and nearby Pinvin during the day from Mondays to Saturdays and is vital for elderly people and residents with mobility problems.

Trudy Burge, of Church Street, Pershore, is so concerned she has started a petition and launched an online campaign calling on people to back the bus’s subsidy.

“I know the county council have got to save money but for people like my mum and dad who can’t walk into town this is a vital service,” she said.

Mrs Burge is also calling on Pershore town councillors and Wychavon District Council to help save the service, which carries 39,000 passengers a year.

MP Harriett Baldwin has also urged people to speak up for their bus services.

Running the bus costs the council taxpayer about £1.57 per passenger (£61,000), official figures show.

“Petitions will be in the town’s fish and chip shops, clubs and a few other places,” said Mrs Burge.

“Because I know how many people use this bus service and how important it is to them.

“There’s just no way some of these people can walk to town.

“It will also hurt the town’s businesses because many of their customers use the service to get to the shops.”

The county council is consulting on the future of bus subsidies and people have until April 1 to air their views.

Derek Prodger, county council transport chief, said there were no “done deals” on routes.

But he said if services were commercially viable they wouldn’t need to be subsidised in the first place and savings needed to be made.

“Some of these buses are empty,” he said.

“If I kept paying to run empty buses people would say: ‘Derek, you’re an idiot’.

“But we haven’t made any decisions, and we’re not axeing any subsidies until September.”

The council will take until the autumn to work out which subsidies will have to go An online campaign page has been set up on Facebook, by searching Pershore Plumline.