Residents are willing to have their council tax increased in order to save the essential bus services after Hertfordshire County Council’s agreement is due to expire.

Hertfordshire County Council is considering slashing £390,000 of bus funding this year, on top of the £1.5m cuts made in 2015.

Potentially this would mean that the 107 bus service and the 292 to Colindale would no longer travel into Elstree or Borehamwood.

Renna Tendler, a resident of Borehamwood, said: “Can’t they just up our council tax by a pound?

“They can keep the interest. I need those buses.”

By cutting these routes, many residents will have to find alternative routes to get to work meaning more cars on the already busy roads.

Resident and mother, Tracy Peat, said: “My daughter goes to school in Mill Hill. How is she meant to get to and from school?

“This is going to have a huge impact on school children and parents.

“If our children cannot get themselves to school, parents will have to drive them, if they have a car in the first place.

“Traffic will be worse and parents may have to work less hours in order to do a school run that is not required at their child’s age.

“Therefore not having a bus for school will affect the community, traffic and work and therefore the campaign should focus on this and the wider implications of no buses.”

Two petitions opposing the cuts has been launched by Watford Liberal Democrats and Watford Labour and hundreds of people have sign the petitions.

Jeremy Newmark, vice chairmen of the Borehamwood and Elstree Labour Party, said: “Obviously this is quite a shocking situation.

“The buses are the hub of the community between Borehamwood and Transport for London (TfL).

“We need to see more investment in local transport. This is not about a ‘funding shortage’ as suggested above.

“Tory run Hertfordshire County Council already cut £1.5million from our local bus services a few months ago.”

Not only will the bus cuts affect the Borehamwood area, but other areas of the county including Watford, Brent Cross, Potters Bar, Arnos Grove, Edgware, New Barnet and South Harrow will suffer the cuts.

Leader of Hertsmere Borough Council, Cllr Morris Bright, said: “On a personal level it is imperative that we keep the services for Hertsmere residents. I want to see our services protected “Hertfordshire County Council are in discussions with TfL but no decisions have been made at this moment. For people to shout that bus services will be cut is not right.”

The three-year agreement between the County Council and TfL is due to expire and according to Cllr Bright no decision has yet to be made.

Derrick Ashley, Hertfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “For the five services subsidised by Hertfordshire County Council, TfL has an annual budget of £11.3m with the council’s subsidy amounting to just four per cent of their total costs.

“The company also operates a further 11 routes into Hertfordshire that we do not contribute to.

“Like many other authorities outside London, we feel that in the current economic climate this level of subsidy for commercial bus services is no longer justifiable.

“Our three-year agreement with TfL expires in April 2016 and we have informed TfL that we are considering withdrawing the support.

“We are waiting for their response and we hope an amicable solution can be found that has minimal impact on these important bus links.”