WE ARE glad that our letter about the reduced service of specialised Dial-a-Ride buses for frail and elderly people has interested your reader, Jane MacTaggart (ViewPoints, November 16).
Ms MacTaggart is absolutely correct that the county council did make a small contribution to the service in the past.
However, the lion’s share of the service in recent years in Oxford was provided by Oxford City Council from government subsidy, through a community transport grant. As some of your readers will know, government funding for bus passes has passed from district councils, such as Oxford City Council, to Oxfordshire County Council.
Although the county council has agreed to continue with Dial-a-Ride buses, unfortunately it has decided to reduce the service in Oxford City and Banbury in favour of other districts such as South Oxfordshire.
That decision has left many old people stranded in their homes.
Ms MacTaggart is unfair in accusing the city council of refusing to provide the service – it is the county council that has taken over responsibility and the funding for administering the service and it is the county council that has chosen to reduce that service in Oxford.
JOHN SANDERS (County Councillor for Cowley and Littlemore) Labour spokesperson on Transport
SUSANNA PRESSEL (City Councillor for Jericho and Osney Ward) County Councillor for West Central Oxford Division
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