TWO of the bus routes due to be axed by Dorset County Council early next month may be saved through being taken over and run by some of their regular passengers.

A packed public meeting that took place last Thursday at the Bottle Inn in Marshwood to protest at the cuts was told of the plan and audience members gave the idea their full backing.

Tim Christian from Dorset Community Transport (DCT) was loudly applauded when he announced that he would delay the withdrawal of the two routes until the end of May to provide time for the passengers’ group to finalise their plans.

The routes involved are the 14 that runs on Tuesdays from Thorncombe to Chard and the 688 which operates on Thursdays to Axminster and picks up in Thorncombe, Marshwood, Fishpond and Hawkchurch.

Earlier in the meeting Councillor Daryl Turner, who represents the Marshwood Vale on the county council, was criticised when he defended the decision to scrap 27 rural routes in the county in order to save £500,000 annually. He said that alternative community schemes would replace the bus services.

A number of speakers described the county council’s decision as discrimination against elderly people living in rural communities.

Many villages across Dorset are now set to be without any bus route at all in the future.

Councillor Dave Marsh, the transport representative on Thorncombe Parish Council, complained that no firm proposals yet existed for the alternative schemes that had been promised.

Caroline Dilke, one of the regular passengers on the 688, said: “It is clear that unless we run them ourselves we will lose our buses.

“That is why we have already been in talks with Dorset Community Transport to try to take over these two routes.”

The plan involves the passengers’ group hiring one of DCT’s vehicles in the middle part of the day when they are not being used as school buses. The cost would be met mainly from fares but it is hoped that other financial support can be obtained.

Mrs Dilke said that this would mean that pensioners would no longer be able to use their concessionary bus passes but that everyone she had spoken to was willing to pay a normal fare in order to retain the buses.

Talks are underway to see if a similar plan can help passengers living in the nearby villages of Whitchurch Canonicorum, Ryall, Wootton Fitzpaine and Catherston Leweston.