EVERY house in the area will get a travel guide through the door in the summer about the new Arriva bus routes and timetables which come into effect on April 22.

Press officer David Shadbolt said: "We want to make it as simple as possible. It will be very clear with information about frequency and times of the first and last bus and details of ticket deals."

In February the Free Press reported that Arriva was cutting routes that were unreliable or not making money. The company blamed a chronic shortage of drivers and traffic congestion.

People had dire tales to tell of waiting half an hour for a ten minute service and of catching 'easy access' buses to town and then finding they could not get one back.

Since then Buckinghamshire County Council has come up with an extra £124,000 in subsidies and the company has changed some of its running times and routes.

Arriva manager Paul Morgan now thinks he has a blueprint for a reliable service. He said the council subsidies meant there would now be no changes to the evening and Sunday network, where low volume of passengers had made the services unviable.

Mr Morgan, who outlined the changes to the Free Press, said working out bus routes and timing was a complex logistical exercise.

"It's not like the railway with a dedicated route. The timetable has to be something that people can rely on."

The main changes are:

Downley 310 into Downley via Hughenden Road will be every 20 minutes daily; 311 and 312 replaced by hourly 308 and 309, via West Wycombe Road and Plomer Green

Widmer End to Lane End (339) split into north and south sections and every 30 minutes daily

Micklefield to Booker via Desborough Avenue (325/326) back to 15 minute timings and bigger buses

Desborough Castle to High Wycombe to Totteridge (313/303) every 10 minutes daily. Arnison Avenue served by a bus from Widmer End (364) along Bowerdean Road to London Road

Hicks Farm Rise Bowerdean Road covered by 364 to Widmer End; 307 will be a half hour Hatters Lane and Hicks Farm Rise route, one bus per hour to Cock Lane; 327 will cover Robinson Road

Flackwell Heath (301) diversion to Robinson Road will go

Maidenhead (317) loop to Kingsmead Road by different subsidised service so overall journey will be quicker

Penn (363) only minor changes

Reading (328/9) - half-hourly service, only to Wycombe Sports Centre in evenings and Sundays

High Wycombe to Speen 333/334 no Saturday service and changes to the weekly morning timetable

Amersham and Chesham services Berkhamsted to Slough via Chesham will be Chesham to Slough only with the county council subsidising a link from Chesham to Berkhamsted; Chartridge to Chesham and Watford will not go to Chartridge, again there will be a subsidised service to make up for this; Wycombe to Amersham and Chesham (362/372) section between Cressex and Wycombe bus station is going because it causes delays and changes in Amersham providing two different routes.

Anger over plans to alter bus route

TWENTY double decker buses an hour could soon be piling down residential streets if a proposed bus route to High Wycombe Railway Station is approved.

Residents who live on the route, which would run from London Road up Spring Gardens, in High Wycombe, and around several residential roads to the station, have been left fuming at the prospect.

The plans, put forward by Buckinghamshire County Council along the disused Bourne End branch line, were put forward because of 'poor interconnections' between the bus and railway station.

But many residents believe the route could cause chaos for them in terms of noise and loss of privacy as the buses will go right outside their homes, and are concerned about pollution, environmental damage and loss of security.

Frank Brunner lives on the proposed route in Station Road and feels that although the idea of getting people out of cars and on to buses is a commendable one, this route will not work and will be extremely disruptive to residents.

He said: "There are traffic lights controlling this, but what if they break down or the bus breaks down, it will be chaos.

"Commuters using the route will get off the bus and back into cars defeating the whole object of a busway."

Another resident in the road, who did not want to be named, said her house would be just 36 inches away from the double deckers going past.

However, Richard Burton, a spokesman for Buckinghamshire County Council, said: "We have to balance issues of privacy and environment with the requirements of public transport for High Wycombe."