A consultation launched by Essex County Council investigating the importance of Sunday bus services within the county is set to conclude this Friday.

Residents have been asked to share their views on the proposed cutbacks as passenger numbers on several services have rapidly decreased.

From Sunday 3 March 2019, the number 9 service between Harlow and Epping now only runs from Harlow to Potter Street every 20 minutes.

Passengers will still be able to travel the Epping route via either Arriva service 87 or Trusty Bus Service 420.

Cabinet Member, Cllr Ray Gooding said: “We have a strong record of supporting local bus services particularly in comparison with other local transport authorities who have significantly reduced the level of support that they offer."

“At present we spend around £9m of taxpayers money on these services each year. However with the number of passengers in some cases falling below six per journey, coupled with the strong financial pressure on all local government funding, means that we have to look very carefully at how we provide our services to ensure that the limited funding available is focused where it will do most good and where the local communities need it."

Currently Essex County Council spends £1.3m a year subsidising the journeys of 500,000 passengers travelling in the evening on weekday and Saturday buses.

Since 2010, the council has made £750million of savings.

In a bid to reduce that figure the council wants to stop funding services after 10pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends that have less than six regular passengers.

Services may be whittled down further on Sundays, when all journeys outside of a 8am to 7pm window with less than six regular passengers could lose their public support.

Inside the window the buses frequency could be dropped to once every two hours.

The Ongar to Harlow service on Sundays may also be affected.

Cllr Gooding added: “We know that buses are important to many people. The consultation is the opportunity to have your say on our proposals.

“It's imperative if you have any comments or concerns to include these within the consultation, all of which we will consider."

Arriva said several routes to its network will be made to make more of their Essex services reliable.

Around 15% of bus network services in Essex are not commercially viable and are subsidised by the County Council, meaning commercial bus operators will not run.

Several non-commercial services operate mostly in rural areas and at less popular travel times.

A statement released by Essex County Council says: “In particular we are reviewing supported services that run after 10pm on weekdays and 11pm on Saturdays; and on Sundays reviewing services that run after 7pm and run more frequently than two hourly.

“The consultation also looks at how we might develop the right type of service to meet the travel needs of residents and visitors by making more use of a wider variety of ways for providing services, such as smaller vehicles, 'demand responsive' transport or taxi-buses.”

The consultation can be accessed at www.essex.gov.uk/local-bus-consultation

Paper versions can be completed from all libraries and on request or can be done over the phone by calling 03457 430 430 or emailing passenger.transport@essex.gov.uk.