Stagecoach bus services in St Neots have been reduced because the company says it cannot afford to run them.

Two buses per hour did circuits of the town but they were among routes subsidised by money secured from Loves Farm developers.

Now all the funds have been spent and Stagecoach has decided the services are no longer commercially viable.

From Sunday (February 23), the buses on the Eaton Socon (number 64) loop were cut from two to just one an hour.

There will remain one bus an hour serving Loves Farm (number 62).

The Eynesbury (number 63) route will run every hour and a new stop has been added in Hardwick Road following a request from people living in the area.

A Stagecoach spokesman warned that bus services would not necessarily tally with train times under the new arrangements. He said: “The number of buses in St Neots has been reduced because the section 106 development money for Loves Farm that was being paid to us by Cambridgeshire County Council has run out and the service is not commercially sustainable in its current format.

“Because the trains are more frequent than the hourly bus service, it does mean that we are not able to connect with every train that arrives at St Neots rail station. We have, however, tried to connect with the main fast trains into and out of London.”

Bus company Go Whippet continues to run its number 61 (the Eatons) and 63 (Eynesbury) routes in the town.