THE most wide-ranging free bus scheme for pensioners in Hampshire looks likely to be rubber-stamped for another year, so long as operators do not succeed in forcing costs up.

An influential group of councillors is recommending Eastleigh Council's Cabinet to approve the funding to continue providing free county-wide travel.

Even if they do, the popular scheme, which is subject to a challenge from bus companies wanting more cash to carry pensioners, could be scrapped if that appeal is successful. A report endorsed by Eastleigh's Environment and Transport Scrutiny Panel includes a stark warning that it would be shelved if bus companies win their appeal.

Despite the announcement in the Queen's Speech that free nationwide travel will be introduced from 2008, there is no legislative safeguard to the county-wide scheme currently offered in Hampshire.

As revealed in the Daily Echo last week, several bus operators, including First, Stagecoach and Wilts & Dorset, are pressing on with their challenge for more funding from the 11 councils that provide it.

Eastleigh councillors still fear the Department for Transport could agree that bus companies are right to feel aggrieved by the way they are paid to carry passholders.

If local authorities are ordered to pay operators more, Eastleigh alone would be left struggling to find an estimated additional £50,000 from its already-stretched budget.

A report to the scrutiny panel said one of the main risks in approving the scheme for another year would be public dissatisfaction if the council is later forced to cut it.

It describes the Eastleigh scheme as "the most generous in the county", providing free travel anywhere in Hampshire at any time of day, as well as travel on four community transport services.

The report says the scheme has been a great success, which has resulted in many more pensioners using buses, more frequently.

This is in part the reason the bus operators are upset at the way they are reimbursed, because they say it does not reflect the number of trips being made.

The council's Cabinet will now make a final decision about continuing to provide county-wide travel when it meets on December 11.

n You can download the petition urging the government to safeguard the county-wide travel scheme from our website at www.dailyecho.co.uk.

Completed copies should be sent to Jon Reeve, Southern Daily Echo, Newspaper House, Test Lane, Redbridge, Southampton SO16 9JX.