Witney/Chipping Norton bus - latest update
The X9 bus to Witney and Chipping Norton looks likely to continue if, as planned, Oxfordshire County Council cancels all bus subsidies this year.
At a meeting today to discuss the service, family-owned bus operator Pulhams said that it hoped to continue operating the service despite the complete loss of subsidy. However, the frequency will be reduced from the current hourly bus, particularly during less busy off-peak times.
Assuming OCC confirms the full cut in subsidies on 11 February (see BBC news report yesterday), Pulhams plans to look at new timetable options in February, where it can continue to operate the service but with fewer buses. We hope to then organise a meeting for Charlbury bus passengers to help the company find out which are the most essential services to keep.
The success of any unsubsidised service will depend entirely on how many people use it - especially passengers paying the full fare. (Bus companies are only reimbursed for 37% of the standard fare for bus-pass holders.) To help this, we hope to jointly organise more publicity for the X9 service when any new service begins, likely to be on 1 June.
Please do continue to use the X9 bus - the more people that use it, the better the case for Pulhams to retain a good service.
Buses leave from the Bell on Church Street at:
- to Witney: 07.15, 08.10, then every hour from 09.30 to 18.30
- to Chipping Norton: 08.10, then every hour from 09.30 to 18.30
- on Saturdays the first buses are at 08.30 (to Witney) and 08.25 (to Chippy)
- no buses on Sundays
Richard Fairhurst
public transport representative, Charlbury Town Council
Richard Fairhurst · Tue 19 Jan 2016, 16:52 · Link