YOU reported (Oxford Mail, May 23) that residents of East Oxford are campaigning for the reinstatement of the bus service between Iffley Road and Oxford railway station.

Last week you published a letter from a Kidlington resident seeking reinstatement of the service between Kidlington and the railway station.

Yet every journey on service 5 (Cowley Road) continues to the rail station, despite the fact that, in common with the other routes, most passengers are travelling to and from the city centre only.

If some of the Cowley Road journeys were to terminate in the city centre, that would release buses which could be used to extend some journeys on the other routes to the rail station.

It is not clear whether this has ever been contemplated, although I suspect the main reason the Oxford Bus Company concentrates all the rail station journeys onto a single route is administrative simplicity.

It is, of course, correct, as the company points out, that passengers to and from the rail station are able to complete their journey using service 5.

This, however, requires passengers to plan their journeys to suit the convenience of the company. Surely it would make better business sense for the company to plan its routes to meet the needs of its customers.

CHRIS ROBINS, Kidlington Parish Council Transport Representative

  • LOUISA Weeks, from the Oxford Bus Company, claims that the company’s re-routing of the number 4 bus (which has cut off those living and working around Iffley Road from the railway station and Botley Road) is temporary.

Yet I have it in writing from the same company that the change is permanent.

Its website, and introduction of a new Iffley Road service (which only goes into the centre), strongly suggests that the change is, indeed, permanent.

Either way, residents and businesses need to know the truth. And, most urgently, need their bus service restored.

Oxford is meant to be moving towards more integrated transport rather than isolating communities from the facilities and access they require.

CRAIG SIMMONS, Magdalen Road, Oxford