WE are sorry that Les Turney (Letters, Friday September 25) is concerned about the reliability of bus services to the Northway estate.

He is in good company because we’re equally concerned and we’ve already taken steps to try and improve the situation. We are always happy to hear from valued passengers like Mr Turney, whether it’s direct or through the pages of the Oxford Mail.

The City13 has to travel through some of the worst roadworks in Oxford City Centre. We’ve put extra resources into the service and ensured that the Northway end of route is affected as little as possible. Unfortunately, like everyone else, we’ve been caught up in the traffic chaos.

It should take 30 minutes from the JR via Northway to the railway station but we have experienced delays of up to an hour at times. As you can imagine that really does cause a major headache for our team.

A few weeks ago we introduced a new timetable to allow extra time for journeys while still maintaining the 20 minute frequency.

We can dream about a time when constant roadworks don’t affect traffic in the city. In the meantime we will continue to do all we can to minimise disruption.

PHIL SOUTHALL 
Managing Director
Oxford Bus Company