Oxfordshire communities hit as bus routes are not financially viable

The services that are being withdrawn link villages around the county with Oxford. They are the 103 from Little Milton, the 108 Forest Hill Circular and the 118, which links Bicester and Oxford via Beckley, Stanton St John and Horton-cum-Studley.

• Are you affected? We'd like to hear from you 

The other villages affected are Little Haseley, Great Haseley, Great Milton, Littleworth, Horspath and Woodperry, along with Boarstall in Buckinghamshire. More than 6,000 people live in the communities affected.

Until July, when Oxfordshire County Council ended subsidies for bus services following a reduction in funding from the Government, Heyfordian received £248,000 a year to run the three routes, along with the 104 service to Cuddesdon.

Heyfordian withdrew the 104 but tried to continue the other services at a lower cost by using one bus to cover the three routes for most of the day, with a second bus in use during the peaks.

However, the routes are still not breaking even, resulting in the decision to withdraw them.

Parish transport representatives and more than 50 bus passengers from the villages packed a recent public meeting about the loss of their bus links at the Merry Bells village hall in Wheatley.

Emma Teasdale, who lives in Horton-cum-Studley, told the meeting: “My daughter will have no way of getting from our village into Oxford and home from college daily when the 108 and 118 are withdrawn. I certainly can’t afford a taxi twice a day. Angry is not the word.”

County councillor Anne Purse lives in Beckley and represents most of the villages affected. She said the parish councils in Beckley, Forest Hill, Horton-cum-Studley and Stanton St John were willing to pay towards saving routes 108 and 118, but no bus company was willing to take them on.

Hugh Jaeger, who chairs Bus Users Oxford and is a director of Bus Users UK, said: “For four months Heyfordian have borne a brave commercial risk to try not to abandon these rural communities. But county council cuts left Heyfordian in a position that proved impossible. We blame the ending of these services on county council cuts forced by the Government.

“Bus Users Oxford knows other routes in the west and south of Oxfordshire are still at risk. How many more Oxfordshire people will be left with no daily public transport?”

No one was available for comment at Heyfordian’s base in Bicester.

'People will lose their independence'

Hada Moreno, from Wheatley, is a regular passenger on the 103, which links Little Milton and Oxford, via Horspath, the biggest of the villages which will lose its bus.

She fears that the end of the 103 and the other services would leave elderly people in Horspath and the other communities isolated in their homes. 

She said: “The elderly people who can no longer get out of their houses will require special care in the future. If they can’t get out and about, their health will be at risk and, in the long term, paying for carers is more expensive than subsidising a bus.

“The 103 was a support network for the elderly, thanks to the outstanding service of the drivers, especially Alan Vick and Sean Harrop. They always go the extra mile to take care of their passengers.”

Her concerns were echoed by Great Haseley resident Deirdre Mann, who gave up driving in 2012 after having a stroke. She has since relied on the 103 bus to reach Wheatley and Oxford, or connect with the 280 to Thame in Wheatley.

She said: “If the buses are taken away, people who can’t drive will lose their independence and families won’t want to live in villages if their children can’t get into Oxford by themselves. I have a friend who doesn’t have a car and relies on the bus to get to work in Oxford.”

She said villagers were joining together to organise a taxi share to go shopping in Thame for the market next Tuesday, to test the water for arranging regular trips, but it was hoped the parish councils could work together to organise a community minibus.

She added: “We’re trying to do something to help bus users feel they aren’t being abandoned. We want to keep people optimistic and hopeful that something can be done.”