Bus routes in Elmbridge could be scrapped, after Surrey County Council (SCC) announced it was looking to stem the £11m it subsidises on journeys every year.

SCC said it would launch a review into bus services across the county and would look to improve the “most needed” routes and create more evening and Sunday services.

However, the overhaul would also mean the council, which wants to save nearly £4m in the next four years, would reduce or stop routes not being used enough or costing the council too much money.

Any changes would not start until September next year.

Currently, SCC subsidises three out of four of the 250 bus journeys in Surrey, because bus companies deem them unprofitable, but the local authority predicts it could be spending £13m a year by 2013 if it fails to take action now.

Councillor Ian Lake, SCC’s cabinet member for transport, said: “It is vital that we offer the best possible services for as many people as we can, while giving Surrey taxpayers maximum value for money.

“We have to balance cost against demand and ensure that routes with low passenger numbers are only supported where there is a real community need and the costs are not excessive. What we can’t do is justify running almost empty buses at huge expense.

“The current network of routes doesn’t provide value for money.

"It’s costing us £11m this year to subsidise public bus routes - £8m more than it did eight years ago - and it will cost us £13m by 2012-13 if we don’t act now.

"On some routes we’re paying nearly £20 to subsidise a return journey and clearly this is madness.”

The overhaul of the bus network is set to happen in phases to coincide with bus company contracts ending.

Elmbridge is among the first areas the review would cover, along with Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne and Woking.

Ian Reeve, head of transport for SCC, said the review would also include looking at implementing an “oyster card” style system for the network.

He added: “We are looking at redesigning the system from the bottom up by looking at the people who rely on public transport. We need to build the system around those people and not around costs.

“What we doing, every local authority will have to do. It will eventually be a UK-wide story.”

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