Council Buys Time Over Lewknor Oxford Tube Connection

ALTHOUGH the Thame link to the Lewknor Taxibus Service was discontinued some weeks ago, through lack of use, alternatives involving Thame may be reconsidered next year.
The service, which has helped reduced the number of cars parking contributed to reduced car parking at the Lewknor Interchange at junction six of the M40, was due to end at the end of the year when government funding ran out.
The service has been expensive to subsidise and the County Council decided it was unable to fund it following the end of central government grant.

In the mean time, OCC has granted a four month contract extension for the bus service that links Watlington with the M40 Lewknor Interchange (Junction 6) and the Oxford Tube London bus service.

The section of the route to Stokenchurch, funded by Buckinghamshire County Council, will cease at the end of January, but the Oxfordshire part of the service will now continue to run until June 2007.

The service, known as the Lewknor Taxibus, will now link Watlington – Lewknor Interchange – Kingston Blount and Chinnor from Monday, January 29 to Friday, June 1st, 2007.

The service was set up as a government-funded Rural Bus Challenge project with the aim of reducing the volume of cars parking on the roadside on the B4009 and in Lewknor village, reducing the amount of car movements and opening up a link to London for people without immediate access to a car.

Cllr David Robertson, the county council?s cabinet member for transport, said: ?The county council sees little prospect of the Taxibus service continuing in its present form beyond our June 2007 review of services.

?We are strongly recommending that local parish councils and local groups put every effort into establishing a community transport based longer-term solution to the provision of public transport links between Watlington and the Oxford Tube coach interchange at Lewknor?.

Photo: Flash back to the launch of the Taxi bus last year, with the then, deputy Mayor, Nigel Champken-Woods, and Thame Town Cllrs Peter Cockayne and David Laver.