AN EXTENSIVE review into the state of the county’s bus network has started – but councillors won’t have long to do it.

Scrutinisers have been tasked with finding out the current state of the bus service and whether existing services meet the needs of the county, how cuts will affect routes and passengers and what role community transport providers have in the network.

A draft outline of the scrutiny proposal approved at the county council’s overview and scrutiny performance board meeting at County Hall on Wednesday (September 26) gave some indication of who will be quizzed in the next few months – including bus companies, community and voluntary transport providers and most importantly, bus users.

Members of the county council’s scrutiny board are under pressure to complete their review by the end of November with a report to be presented to cabinet in December – a report which will no doubt play a huge part in the council’s bus review as well as shape budget discussions in the next few years as senior councillors look to tackle a projected £17.9 million overspend for 2018/19.

Cllr Fran Oborski said the scrutiny needed to focus on the whole of Worcestershire both urban and rural and not just certain towns and cities.

She said: “The problems in public transport are not just confined to one part of the county and are not confined to just one bus provider.

“Things are very, very different across the county.”

Cllr Liz Tucker stressed the need to investigate bus usage during busy parts of the day so the council is making decisions on subsidies with the best information possible.

She said: “We need to be looking at the needs of people who don’t have access to a car but need to go to work, to college, to medical appointments, to go shopping or even for leisure. That is the bottom line.

“It is not just about keeping the routes that are already commercially viable open.”

The review was backed unanimously by the county council, including a very enthusiastic cabinet member for highways Cllr Alan Amos who threw his support behind the call to examine the whole of Worcestershire’s bus network, at a full council meeting at County Hall on September 13.

Having announced the county council needs to save £17 million by March to plug a large social care funding gap, leader Cllr Simon Geraghty pulled out the authority’s £1.8 million spend on bus subsidies as a pot full of potential savings to run alongside a review of the entire “shape and size” of the 2,800-strong authority.