BUS passengers will be left 'stranded' under plans to slash £1.85 million from a council's transport budget, it is feared.

Bus Users UK, which champions the interests of passengers, has delivered a hard-hitting response to Dorset County Council's consultation on a savage round of bus cuts amid budget pressures.

After withdrawing funding for rural services, the council now plans a shake-up of public and school transport.

It wants to reduce the public transport subsidy by £1m and also shave off £850,000 from school transport services, with savings in place by next year. A consultation ended last week.

Affected services include D1/D2 Dorchester town services and D6 to Poundbury, 101 Dorchester-Crossways, 207 Weymouth-Wyke Regis, 211 Poundbury- Weymouth, 212 Dorchester-Yeovil, 40 Bridport-Yeovil, and 71 Lyme Regis town service.

DCC says it's not be possible to keep the current public bus network so it will focusing on supporting routes which serve the most people, and will be open up more school services for public use.

It will also be relying on community transport operators and groups to step in.

But Bus Users UK claims the use of school and community transport to plug the gap contravenes certain legislation.

It believes that passengers in Dorset could be left stranded with term-time only services while older people could potentially be unable to use their bus passes on local services.

In its response it says bus services are essential to enable people to access education, employment and vital services and the effect of the cuts on the local economy 'should not be underestimated'.

Vulnerable people such as the young, elderly and less able will be particularly badly affected by the proposals, it suggests.

Dawn Badminton-Capps, Bus Users Director for England, said: “All councils have a duty under the 1985 Transport Act to provide ‘socially necessary’ buses. These services are a vital lifeline, particularly to vulnerable people.

“So while we welcome efforts by Dorset County Council to find innovative and creative solutions to their current funding issues, replacing subsidised services with buses that have limited availability is not the answer.”

Dorset County Council Cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and highways, Peter Finney, said: "Like all local authorities, Dorset County Council is facing an unprecedented financial challenge requiring difficult decisions on which services we can deliver, and how.

"For public transport we are looking at the bigger picture. Our aim is to develop a modern transport network making best use of our reducing resources by joining up commercial, public and community services in innovative and efficient ways to support our economy and keep people connected.

"Possible solutions differ according to the location, but may include community transport options such as car-share schemes, volunteer drivers, or making better use of existing services such as opening up school services to the wider community."

Cllr Finney added: "We are listening to communities and will continue to work them to find practical alternatives to subsidised bus services."