Thame council to fund threatened local bus

THAME Town Council is to spend up to £6,250 to keep the Vale Travel local bus service 120/121/123/124 running for a year, from July 20, 2016, when it would otherwise cease due to cuts in the county council’s subsidies to uneconomic routes.

This sum would mean that this vital life-line for people living at the Eastern end of Thame and some out-lying villages, would at least continue to get people to and from Thame on Tuesdays, market day.

If a bus company insists that it will only run the service for a minimum of two days (as Vale Travel has), this would require a subsidy of £15,000. The town council will seek contributions from other parish councils whose residents benefit from the service.

‘Urgent’

Cllr Mary Stiles, who with Thame’s Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, has been trying to work out with the bus company a feasible plan to keep the service going, has been given the brief to persue the efforts further with other bus companies.

Cllr Stiles told fellow town councillors at their meeting on Tuesday (June 21), “Disabled and elderly people who cannot afford taxis, rely on this service and would otherwise become isolated and lonely, which we know can affect mental health. This matter is now urgent as the service ends on July 20. Keeping the service going is also good for Thame’s continued vibrancy and contributes to the economy of our shops.

“We also need to take into consideration the new houses at the Eastern end of the town,” she added.

‘Thin end of the wedge’

Cllr Nigel Champken Woods feared that subsidising buses in this way could be ‘the thin edge of the wedge’. “This should be funded by Oxfordshire County Council. What are they going to dump on us next?  They cannot keep cut, cut, cutting and expect us to take up the slack. What are they spending their money on, since they keep cutting?”