Oxford has one of the best bus services in the country.
We have bucked the national trend of a decline in bus use since deregulation, and have the least polluting buses in the UK by a long way.
It is, thus, rather surprising to see that the Conservatives on the county council want to make bus travel in the city less convenient and less attractive to residents and visitors alike.
Roadworks over the past few years have meant that neither major bus company could keep running through-services between North and East Oxford, to the great disadvantage, particularly, of elderly and less mobile would-be passengers.
We had hoped that once the latest phase of roadworks was over, a through service would be restored.
But the Conservatives’ ‘Transform Oxford’ plans will make the walk across the city centre even longer.
It will be even more difficult to reach the railway station from the north by bus.
At present taxis can use Magdalen Street and George Street to take the less mobile to the station. But if that route is closed, even more traffic, including buses and taxis, will be trying to use the Worcester Street bottleneck.
Keith Mitchell has promised there will be consultation, but has also announced that “it will happen”.
I hope he is prepared to listen this time, despite the apparent determination to impose his ideas on Oxford.
Past experience makes me less hopeful about that. I hope he will prove me wrong.
JEAN FOOKS Liberal Democrat councillor for Summertown and Wolvercote Oxfordshire County Council
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