NORTH Yorkshire County Council cut more bus services than any other local authority in the country last year, while other councils in the region stopped subsidising buses altogether, new research shows.

Cash-strapped local authorities across the region have balanced the books by slashing funding for buses in recent years, reveals a report by the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT).

Bus subsidy budgets have fallen by almost five per cent since 2010 in the North-East, while in Yorkshire and the Humber they dropped by more than 27 per cent.

Last year alone, a 25 per cent budget cut by North Yorkshire County Council led to 90 different bus services being reduced, altered or axed altogether.

Stockton Council became the latest authority in the region to cancel all subsidies, following the lead set by Darlington and Hartlepool, which had both already stopped funding buses.

Martin Abrams, from the CBT, said the report showed that bus services were being lost at an alarming rate.

"Year on year cuts to budgets mean entire networks have now disappeared, leaving many communities with little public transport and in some cases none at all," he said.

"We often hear from people with heartbreaking stories, who have been effectively cut off from society following cuts to their bus service."

Nationally, half of English local authorities reduced funding for bus services in 2014/15.

Rural areas were the worst hit, seeing average budget reductions of 19 per cent.

There was some encouraging news for the North-East however, with just three services being altered or cut in 2014/15.

Durham County Council reduced its bus funding by just 1.5 per cent, according to the report.

North Yorkshire County Council said that although it had reduced the amount it spent on bus services, it had ensured that communities were still able to access essential services using bus services or community transport services.

Darlington Council said that following its decision to cut funding for supported bus services, the council had worked with bus operators, community transport operators and other organisations to maximise the opportunities for local people to travel.

Councillor Mike Smith, Stockton Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and transport, said the authority removed subsidies were removed in April last year after a consultation.

He added: “Since then many of the communities that had been served by supported services have secured commercial ones.

"In other areas the council has provided kick-start funding and worked closely with town and parish councils as well as third sector partners to develop community led services so residents in more remote parts of the borough can still access doctors’ surgeries, local shops, banks, chemists and other essential services by bus.”

Hartlepool Council said the Government had cut its grant by almost 40 per cent over the last four years with more reductions still to come.

A spokesman added: "The unprecedented scale of these huge budget cuts has left us facing some incredibly difficult decisions."