BUS passengers in East Sussex are being advised to look out for changes to subsidised routes due to come into effect next month.

The changes, which will be phased in from Sunday, April 12 2015, result from a review of the county’s supported bus network, and were approved by East Sussex County Council’s cabinet in December.

The reformulated supported bus network, which was devised following a 12-week public consultation last year, will leave 91 per cent of passengers unaffected while 96 per cent will still have access to a six-day-a-week service.

The changes will save £1.88 million, part of wider savings the council has to make, largely as a result of a cut in central government funding by a third over the past five years.

Cllr Carl Maynard, county council lead member for transport and environment, said: “We have always said that while the financial pressures we are facing mean changes are necessary, we’d try and reduce the impact on passengers where possible.

“While some routes will see a reduced service, recent successful negotiations with operators mean that a number of services will be able to operate on a more frequent basis than was anticipated.

“We will be monitoring the impact of the changes and while we welcome feedback from passengers, we’d ask people to give the changes time to settle in before letting us have their comments.”

The changes to subsidised routes will begin to take effect on Sunday, April 12 2015 and be staggered over a four-week period.

Full details of the changes for each area of East Sussex, and when they come into effect, are available online at www.eastsussex.gov.uk/newbustimes

The council will continue to work with commercial operators to identify further opportunities to increase the size of the commercial network.

More information is available by calling East Sussex County Council on 0345 6080194 or emailing passenger.transport@eastsussex.gov.uk