It is good news that Brighton and Hove City Council will not cut support for bus services this year (The Argus, February 11). Thanks are due to Councillor Theobald and other councillors who helped achieve this.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for West Sussex County Council, where there are proposals to cut bus support savagely – by nearly half over three years (almost twice the level of cuts to many other services). This is extremely damaging because many more services require support (about 94 services). In Mid Sussex, more than two-thirds of services are supported – so if the cuts were proportional, Mid Sussex could lose one third of all its bus services.

While WSCC is yet to decide which services will be axed, the cuts will be so deep that even if all supported evening and Sunday services were to be axed (including most Worthing evening and Sunday services) this would only account for one quarter of the cutbacks required. This means a number of core daytime services (which are also supported) are at risk – possibly resulting in some people finding it difficult to get to work, or school; as well as the risk of villages being cut off from public transport.

Another issue is time: whether it is possible to make the biggest-ever changes to the West Sussex bus network in just three months. Or will people end up being left without access to transport unnecessarily, because there was insufficient time to explore all the alternatives?

Peter Elvidge
Wish Road, Hove