A BOLTON councillor has slammed a massive cost-trimming exercise by Greater Manchester (FirstBus).

The former GM Buses North - now owned by Aberdeen-based FirstBus - is making changes to 85 services from Monday, September 30.

The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive - which stresses it is not responsible for these "commercial" decisions - estimates that two million miles of services will be lost by the alterations.

Cllr Guy Harkin, who is Bolton Council's Deputy Leader and a spokesman for the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, has expressed "very grave concerns."

He said: "The bus network in Greater Manchester is being continually undermined by the narrow commercial concerns of bus operators. "Current Government policy means that bus operators must now concentrate on their shareholders' demands for ever higher profit at the expense of services to passengers.

"The Government then expects local taxpayers to pick up the bill - yet year on year they keep cutting local authority expenditure."

Cllr Harkin added: "A crisis point has now been reached."

He said he had called a special meeting of the Authority on Friday, September 27 to review the whole of the subsidised bus network throughout Greater Manchester.

"Approximately 90 per cent of all bus services have a subsidised element and the Authority simply does not have the resources to fund any more, " Cllr Harkin said.

"We will have to look again at our budget and decide whether we can afford to restore any of the services we are about to lose - possibly at the cost of other subsidised routes."

But Mr Rodney Dickinson, Director and General Manager of Greater Manchester (FirstBus) said he believed the situation was being exaggerated.

"We have been very careful in looking at the changes we have made," he said. They had been necessary to replace lost revenue caused by the IRA bomb blast in Manchester in June.

Mr Dickinson said they did not think there would be a significant adverse impact on passengers.

It was hoped revenues could be brought back to previous levels which allowed a major investment in the vehicle fleet.

The GMPTA pays bus companies to operate services which are not commercially attractive, such as those early in the morning, late at night or on Sundays.

It estimates that the cost of replacing the most important services in Bolton would be £16,000.

These include the 94 from Bolton through Little Lever and Whitefield to Manchester.

Late evening journeys on Saturdays and all journeys on Sundays will be withdrawn on the 94. Greater Manchester (First Bus) points out that some of the changes represent improvements.

Services 12, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39, which currently terminate near the Arndale Centre in Manchester, will be extended to Piccadilly.

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