Bus bosses have slammed the slashing of subsidies after an Accrington bus company which has served the borough for more than 20 years was forced to close.
M&M Coaches will cease to exist from Thursday, September 22.
The firm had previously criticised the scale of charges at the new £6.4m Accrington bus station and said they were prepared to just use passenger stops instead. Several of the firm’s routes will now by taken over by Pilkingtonbus.
Alan Pilkington, owner of Pilkingtonbus, said the passengers were losing a “friendly face”.
He added: “The bus station has been a big problem with stand allocations. The costs are growing through the roof and the way the bus station is laid out in bays, people get on the nearest Transdev bus.”
Coun Gareth Molineux said: “I suspect the increased costs on the movements in and out of the bus station and subsidies being stopped have gone some way to contributing to this.
"It’s obviously very upsetting for the borough as M&M has been part of Hyndburn for the last 20 years. I hope the county council realise that slashing subsidies across the board is going to have consequences.”
The 231 will now be run as the number 15, while the number 1, 2 and 9 routes will also now be serviced by Pilkingtonbus.
The number 1 will run between Oswaldtwistle and Clayton-le-Moors, and will run hourly instead of every 30 minutes. However, the 521, 879, 155, 21 and 46 services will no longer be run. M&M coaches declined to comment when contacted by the Observer.
Andrew Varley, Lancashire County Council’s public transport manager, said: “The decision to move to a position where our bus stations become self-financing was made as part of this year’s budget in light of the savings the huge savings the council needs to make in the coming years.
"We are working with operators to try and mitigate the impact of these charges and to reduce operational costs. We will, however, look at options to move stands around once we have an understanding of the levels of services being offered following the withdrawal of M&M Coaches services.”
