THE end of Scottish Government support for bus operators could see a 10 per cent decrease in Stagecoach services in East Scotland.

The company announced earlier this month that a 15 per cent rise in fares would be implemented in April and has now confirmed that it is in the process of reviewing its network.

Fife Council stepped in to subsidise bus services in November when several West Fife routes were at risk of being withdrawn.

Leader David Ross told the recent full council meeting that officers will be speaking with Stagecoach to find out more about their intentions.

It comes after a letter to local MPs and MSPs warned that the planned ending of the Scottish Government’s Network Support Grant plus could see cuts of up to 10 per cent.

He said: "I understand that Stagecoach have announced that from April 2 they will be implementing a 15 per cent fare rise but they have given no details on if they are going to go ahead with cuts to services."

James Calder, Fife Liberal Democrat deputy leader, commented that the news was "extremely worrying" while "in the middle of a cost of living crisis".

He questioned whether the issue had been raised with Holyrood.

Cllr Ross responded: "We haven't yet taken it up directly with the Scottish Government. There is a discussion between Stagecoach and the Scottish Government and I'm sure there are differences of opinion on each side.

"I'm happy to write to the Scottish Government about our concerns on this."

He added that the council was "not in a position to support" the fare rise and pointed out it had included £760,000 in last month's budget to subsidise bus services.

He said: "Bus companies are commercial bodies. My view is that it would be better run as a public service but we are some way away from that.

"I understand one of the issues that operators are making relates to the concessionary fares, they feel they are not adequately recompensed for the costs in providing these services."

A spokesperson for Stagecoach East Scotland confirmed: "As Scottish Government funding ends on 31st March, we are now in the process of reviewing our network."

Local MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville was one of those to receive the letter from Stagecoach and confirmed that it did not specify which services could be affected.