I am writing in dismay at the news of the new dial-a-ride service that is to start next month.

Currently I use the service on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to visit my elderly mother and also to have a short visit to my local library.

Being housebound, this service has been a godsend to me and has given me a little independence over the last five years.

We heard that Oxford County Council had won the contract, and according to a telephone conversation with assistant public transport officer Mr Neil Timberlake, I was told I wouldn’t notice any difference to the service. At present the Bicester service runs for five days a week (Mon-Fri) and most days has two buses for this area.

The new service means there will be just one bus on a Friday and they have the cheek to ask for £5 membership for a service you cannot guarantee getting a journey on, even if you phone and book it.

It’s not on a first-come-first-serve basis, it’s whether or not they can schedule you into the run in the direction or area that you want to go.

They then phone you when they have planned the routes and tell you if you are lucky enough to be accepted for that day. If they decide not to fit you in because you are not in the area of the route they want to go, then you are completely stuffed.

Being disabled and living on disability allowance, how am I and others in the same position supposed to be able to afford to pay £10 for a taxi into Bicester to go to the surgery, or even to Tesco?

The amount of money that the council wastes in other areas could easily have been spent on providing a proper bus service.

Although I am not very happy with this outcome and dread the future being stuck at home 24/7, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at dial-a-ride Bicester, as they have been very kind and helpful over the last few years.

ANN BRAND, Shaw Close, Bicester