Changes to council-funded bus services haven’t considered whether people on low incomes will be badly affected, a councillor has warned.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council plans to merge 13 bus services into 12. Council leaders approved the changes at a meeting on Wednesday, October 2.

But Borough First Independents councillor Helen Price questioned whether councillors had considered the impact of the changes on people who can’t afford cars or taxis.

She said: “If the services are changed or their reduced, if somebody is poor, they haven’t got a car and they can’t afford a taxi and there are no buses they’re going to be adversely affected.”

READ MORE: Changes to bus routes that could come in next year

Councillor Price asked for the plans to be updated to reflect this. She noted that they had already looked at the impact on older and disabled people

Independent councillor Geoff Hill – responsible for transport – said he has asked council officers too look into this. But he added the changes would be small, and the council had ‘done everything we can to make sure people are okay’.

He said: “There will be a number of route changes but we will be retaining the overwhelming majority of the routes pretty much as they are now.”

The council currently subsidises 13 bus services run by private companies across the borough. But plans indicate that it will only provide funding for 12 from April next year when contracts for these run out, with some services being cut or merged into new routes.

Plans presented to leading councillors say the Royal Borough’s budget for bus services ‘will not be sufficient’ to carry on running the same services ‘on a like-for-like basis’.

The Royal Borough council currently subsides the 1, 3, 8 (Maidenhead), 9, 15, 16, 234, 235, 238, 239, 305, P1 and W1 services.

The council has already begun appealing to companies to bid to run six new lots of services. These will be:

  • The 1 and 1A between Windsor and Ascot via Sunninghill
  • The 3, 3A and 4 Maidenhead town services
  • The 15 between Slough, Eton and Eton Wick
  • The 16 between Windsor and Maidenhead
  • The 10 and 10A between Windsor and Staines
  • The 227, 227A and 228 from Maidenhead to Henley and Twyford

Plans suggest that stops currently served by the number 8 will be served by the number 3 following a similar route, while stops currently served by the number 9 will also be merged into the number 16.

Meanwhile the 234, 235, 238 and 239 routes will be merged into 227 and 227A routes from Maidenhead to Twyford, and a 228 from Maidenhead to Henley.

Stops served by the 305 between Staines and Colnbrook look set to be served by the 10 and 10A service between Staines and King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor.

And the P1 park and ride between Windsor town centre and King Edward VII looks set to lose its funding, while stops served by the W1 Windsor Town Circular will be served by the number 1.