TWO West Somerset bus routes threatened by the loss of public subsidies have been saved after the operator agreed to keep them on the road. Somerset County Council confirmed this week it would withdraw financial help for the 106 Doniford to Minehead service and the 100 Minehead town route. But Webberbus, which provides both services, has agreed to run them on a commercial basis. However, another service threatened by subsidy cuts - the Wednesday only 107 Luccombe to Wootton Courtenay to Minehead, run by Ridler Coaches - will be axed from June 4, although the area will continue to be served by the Somerset Slinky bus. The county council launched a public consultation late last year after announcing proposed subsidy changes to 12 of the 81 routes it helps fund across the county. The authority said hundreds of responses were received and it used the information to help identify the services most important to people, where essential savings could be made and how some services could be funded differently. Cll Harvey Siggs, cabinet member with responsibility for highways, said: "As an authority we are committed to listening and consulting with our residents and this consultation is a fantastic example of how the views of our residents really count. "We face some extremely tough decisions because of significant reductions in our funding but we value the opinions of our residents as we face up to these challenges. "We have protected those bus services that are most important to people as a direct result of this consultation. "We will continue to work with members of the public and bus operators to explore ways of delivering services most important to people in a cost-effective, efficient manner."