BUS chiefs face new criticism after a service to a college was cut in the run-up to exams.

Students at Amersham and Wycombe College depended on half-hourly buses to get them to and from the Amersham campus in Stanley Hill. But they now face more time waiting after the 372 service from Wycombe bus station was scrapped, leaving just one bus an hour.

Helen Chapman, studying art and design, had to ring her father after the remaining 362 service to Amersham and Wycombe College failed to turn up last Tuesday on the morning of an exam.

The 17-year-old, of Hughenden Road, High Wycombe, explained: "You just never trust the buses really. They've got to make them more reliable.

"I just wish they hadn't changed them to every hour. If you missed one in the past you could just about make it on time, but now you have to wait another hour."

Two weeks ago the Free Press revealed how elderly bus users in Chartridge, near Chesham were upset after a long-standing service was withdrawn.

Arriva, the largest bus operator in Buckinghamshire, has cut a range of routes deemed unreliable and unprofitable.

The cuts were introduced about three weeks ago and were blamed on a chronic shortage of drivers and congestion.

Nigel Eggleton, Arriva's commercial director, explained that there had been no changes to peak time services to the college.

He added that the 372 service, from High Wycombe to Chesham calling at Amersham and Wycombe College, Stanley Hill, was introduced two years ago on a trial basis to improve off-peak use but it did not work.