A bus service run by a family firm in Oxfordshire for nearly 75 years will be taken over by one of the county's largest bus companies, Stagecoach, at the end of the year.

Paul Worth of Worth's bus and coach company

Worth's Coaches in Enstone has operated the 70 bus route between Oxford and Charlbury since 1930, when founder Thomas Worth, known as Dickie, was petitioned by villagers to add Charlbury to the service.

Oxfordshire County Council, which subsidises the route, reviews the services it helps pay for every four years. Stagecoach, which operates buses, coaches and trains across the country, has offered to run it for less and will take over from Sunday December 12.

Worth's, founded in 1922, is run by Richard Worth, 62, and his son Paul Worth, 39. Paul Worth said: "We're basically quite angry about it, it was my grandfather who started it in 1930 when he was petitioned by people in the villages to change the service to take in Charlbury, Stonesfield and Combe, and he put Chadlington and Spelsbury on as well."

"We've been running it since then and over the years passenger numbers dropped so we started needing the subsidy. We tried running an hourly service and that wasn't working either. It's strange that Stagecoach decided to come in at this point, they've never shown any interest in it before."

Mr Worth said he hopes business from schools and private coach hire, the firm's main source of income, will allow it to keep its 30 full and part-time staff. Worth's still runs two other local bus routes, but will lose the contract to run the Charlbury Taxibus Rail Link in December following another review.

Allan Field, bus services manager for the county council, said the 70 route, which will become the 20A, will run every hour for six days a week and make more journeys than before. At present buses are not always hourly.

He said: "Since the 1985 Transport Act, councils have been obliged by law to accept the lowest tender.

"In this case Stagecoach provided the lowest tender. We appreciate that users of the Charlbury to Oxford bus service want re-assurances that there will be no diminution in the quality of service as a result of the changeover. The council is fully committed to monitoring the quality of its contracted bus services and is rigorous in carrying out checks."

Adam Rideout, marketing manager at Stagecoach, said: "We're delighted to be running this service to Charlbury.

"We've operated along the route up until Woodstock for many years with the route 20, and the 20A is a good addition to the Stagecoach network."

Worth's Coaches, which began as a business repairing motorbikes and lawn mowers, has a bus named Dickie after its founder and still uses his motto: "For a rattling good ride."