ELDERLY and disabled people in north Oxfordshire could see deep cuts to their dial-a-ride bus links from next year, according to the charity now running the service.

Cherwell District Council is ending its current £187,000 grant funding next March, when it changes the way it pays for community transport and advice services as it tries to cut spending.

Oxfordshire County Council will assume responsibility for concessionary and special transport and is considering options for dial-a-ride services from next April.

The district council is planning to increase its support for volunteer car schemes and make a contribution towards dial-a-ride.

But Brian Price, manager of Banburyshire Community Transport Association, said he believed that whatever solution emerged, the service for their existing passengers could be decimated.

He said: “We are a 50 per cent bigger operation, as things stand, than Octabus, which covers dial-a-ride in Oxford, West Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse. They provide four buses working five days a week across those areas, some 20 bus days. We provide 30 days per week in Cherwell alone.”

About 40,000 journeys a year are made on the Cherwell dial-a-ride buses. South Oxfordshire does not have any dial-a-ride service.

Cherwell council leader Barry Wood, said: “We are taking our time to phase in these big changes.

“Our plan is to buy in the service we need at a lower cost to the taxpayer. Remember though that we want to improve the services for our most needy people at the same time.”