A NUMBER of bus pilot schemes in Basingstoke are set to be extended after councillors praised them.

Councillors on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s community, environment and partnerships committee considered the outcomes of Commissioning Outcome Group three which looked at what the council “could be doing itself, and with its partners, better to enable residents to access public transport”.

Currently, the borough council spends £717,000 per year on subsidies for buses across Basingstoke and Deane, and Hampshire County Council provides £575,000 a year for certain routes.

The transport COG, which took place between May last year and January, identified six key areas where transport could be improved in Basingstoke including improved promotion of public transport in the borough though a website similar to the one used for Transport for London, improved cycle structure and facilities and an improved local transport service and infrastructure.

Other options created by the group included real-time information at bus stops, an annual transport conference bringing together transport providers and users and an idea for the borough council to take budgetary control of subsided public transport across Basingstoke and Deane.

Cabinet member for communities, service delivery and improvement, Councillor Robert Tate, said: “The COG came up with six options which have been put forward and are being developed.

“The COG process has produced not just short-term wins or short-term requirements but also begins to take an active part in developing the long-term process of developing solutions in Basingstoke and Deane for transport.”

Councillors were also asked to comment on the options for continuing a number of pilots including for evening services, the 3B route in South Ham, the 654 routes which runs between Old Basing and The Costello School and a Winklebury Shuttle.

Following cuts by Hampshire County Council to the amount of money they spend of subsidised routes in Basingstoke and Deane, the borough council introduced the 3B route for residents on the Berg Estate to have access to a service.

South Ham councillor Colin Regan told the meeting: “The 3B bus service is essential. It serves all of the Berg Estate which has an elderly population and another part of South Ham between Hill View (Road) and Kelvin Hill which has predominantly lots of elderly people as well.

“If they haven’t got this bus service they have got to walk down to Winchester Road to catch the number one service. It is alright getting down the hill but they can’t get back up it.”

Grove councillor Stephen Day added: “I think the late evening services should continue as they are in the whole package and the reason why is we have only done it for one year and no service can expect to have the volume that you are looking for in one year.”

Councillors agreed to extend the evening services pilot and the 3B service for another six months and the 654 service for the 2015/16 academic year.

However, they agreed that the Winklebury Shuttle pilot should not continue as it was only used by one passenger a day on average – a total of an £80 subsidy.