Kidlington hospital bus link thrown a lifeline (From Oxford Mail)

I am unsure as to whether Councillor Rodney Rose and I made similar statements, or that Ms Collisson was understandably confused by the presence of two Cllr Roses. However, I suspect it is the latter.

When interviewed, I expressed the concerns that I had along with my fellow Councillors Tim Emptage and Doug Williamson regarding the essential 700 service. I expressed my hopes that the service would be retained throughout the day albeit at a reduced frequency. I highlighted the fact that if the service were to be limited to peak hours, the sick, elderly and infirm would have to change buses, and have at least 400m walk between the bus stops. I also stated that there appears to have been no consultation with the users or potential users.

We were assured by Cllr Rodney Rose that we would be kept informed throughout the talks involving the County Council, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals and RH Buses. Despite repeated requests from ourselves - who had been requested to act by our constituents - we were not informed of any meetings or decisions made regarding the 700 service. We actually found out from the RH Buses website, a phone call from Ms Collisson and a letter sent to the Parish Council. This blatant lack of communication from County Council Cabinet Members to residents of Oxfordshire does not bode well for democratic representation in a period of cuts to vital services

Alaric Rose is mistaken: passengers between Kidlington and the hospitals will not need to walk hundreds of metres to change buses off-peak.
`
Buses 2, 2A, 2B, 7A and 7B between Kidlington and central Oxford share stops with route 700 everywhere between Summertown and Water Eaton. Passengers can therefore change buses at any one of those stops. If they change at Summertown Parade, they will benefit from the brand new shelters, seats and RealTime electronic displays as well.
`
This is less convenient than getting one bus for their entire journey. However, passengers who have a free senior citizen's bus pass, a free disabled person's bus pass or buy a PlusPass can make the entire journey without having to buy different tickets.
`
Of course, passengers between Kidlington and many other parts of Oxford do have to walk 400+ metres between Magdalen Street and stops in St Aldate's, Castle Street or the wretchedly uncomfortable stop in Bonn Square. This is because all bus services were removed from Cornmarket in 1999 and all bus stops from Queen Street in 2009.
`
Alaric Rose's Lib Dem colleagues must share responsibility for this. They supported the Cornmarket pedestrianisation and spent many years calling for Queen Street to be pedestrianised.

When Oxfordshire Conservatives proposed to remove the stops from Queen Street, the Lib Dems opposed the decision but failed to list hardship to disabled or elderly passengers as one of their reasons. This blunder left representatives from passenger group Bus Users UK and disabled group Transport or All (myself and Gwynneth Pedler respectively) who went to the relevant Cabinet Member's Decision Meeting helpless to object to the City Centre being made even more of a disabled passengers' no-go area.

Some Liberal Democrats are good at defending bus services or getting them improved. Jean Fooks' successful campaign to create route 17 was exemplary.
`
However, all political parties need to accept that every phase of pedestrianisation of Oxford city centre has reduced connectivity between bus routes. The passengers who are least able to walk 400, 500 or 600 metres are the ones who suffer most from the anti-disabled, anti-elderly, anti-public-transpor
t ideology that increasingly rules parts of central Oxford.

Hugh, thank you for pointing that out. When I stated the distance between stops, I was working on the assumption that people would use a day pass, and it did completely escape me that people could of course use Plus Passes and free concessionary travel. I agree wholeheartedly that Oxford is in desperate need of a central transport hub and that the needs of the disabled get ignored across the board, usually in the interest of private enterprise. I hope to hear more from you pointing me in the right direction.