BUS PASS holders will no longer be able to travel for free at peak times following a decision by councillors.

Dorset County Council's cabinet agreed to withdraw a subsidy scheme to fund free concessionary bus travel before 9.30am.

Under the scheme, concessionary bus pass holders were able to travel for free before 9.30am on services where the next bus was not available until 10.30am.

The scheme applied to almost 50 bus services, mainly in rural communities.

Routes affected include the 104 from Wool, the number 80 service from Shaftesbury to Bath, the X9 service from Gillingham to Blandford and the number 300 Witchampton to Wimborne.

The decision from the cabinet will see the council cease to fund the scheme from August.

The move is expected to save the council between £16,000 and £20,000 a year.

The council says it is necessary in the light of reduced funding to ensure rural routes are not removed completely and says it also hoped it will encourage operators to open up more school routes to the public.

The cabinet considered feedback from a six-week public consultation on the proposals, which showed 42.9 per cent of those who responded agreed with withdrawing the funding, while 47.1 per cent disagreed.

A total of 1,427 residents took part in the consultation.

Cllr Peter Finney, cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and highways, said: “Withdrawing the use of concessionary passes before 9.30am will encourage service providers to open more school routes to the public when our new contract model for passenger transport is implemented in September.

"We want to ensure that residents in rural areas can keep their independence for longer and do not feel isolated.

"We’ve got a significantly reduced public transport budget and without changes to concessionary travel to help with funding, rural areas may otherwise have seen all public transport services removed."

The changes do not affect the partially sighted and blind, who would still be able to travel free any time.

The companion scheme for people with disabilities would still continue, and concessionary holders would still be able to travel anytime of the day weekends and public holidays.

The East Dorset scheme is also not affected as this is an enhancement scheme funded by East Dorset District Council for its own residents.