Julie Mabberley of Wantage and Grove Campaign Group explains how local bus services are changing

THE Wantage Hospital saga continues but in the meantime, our bus services are also changing.

There are currently a range of bus services offered through Wantage and Grove. Many of these services are subsidised by Oxfordshire County Council and all subsidies are being withdrawn from 20 July. That means these buses may be withdrawn unless the bus companies can find another way to fund the service.

The A1 Didcot to Wantage will cease but the X32 Wantage to Oxford via Didcot and the villages will continue and will now operate roughly every hour from 6am to 8pm on Monday to Saturday.

The X1 will become the 32A from Wantage to Abingdon via Didcot and will operate hourly between Wantage and Abingdon on Mondays to Saturdays. This will now go via Culham not Drayton.

The X32 and 32A services will combine to give two buses per hour between Wantage and Didcot on Mondays to Saturdays. This service will only serve Ardington turn, not the village itself.

The X30/31 service to Oxford will continue.

The 38 Wantage Town Service will be rerouted so that it will only go from Grove to Wantage town centre from 24 July. It will no longer go via East Challow, Letcombe Regis or Charlton. There will be 15 journeys per day between Grove and Wantage on Mondays to Fridays, and an hourly service on Saturdays.

The 67 will be revised to operate hourly between Wantage and Faringdon via Stanford-in-the-Vale on Mondays to Saturdays. Buses on the new 67 service will change route number in Wantage Market Place to become the new 32A service to Harwell Campus, Didcot, Milton Park and Abingdon on an hourly basis. Passengers wishing to make through journeys can remain on the bus.

The new 67 service will no longer visit the following places that used to be served by the 67, 67A, 67B and 67C: Letcombe Regis, Letcombe Bassett, Shellingford, Childrey, Sparsholt, Westcot, Kingston Lisle, Uffington, Baulking, Fernham, and Little Coxwell.

The 83/84 Stanford in the Vale mini-bus will continue as it does at the moment.

The 107 Newbury to Wantage Saturday service will not operate after 4 September 2016.

As you can see, this means that most of the services through the villages (such as they are) will be withdrawn and access to shops, health care etc. will be harder to obtain without a car.

The Independent Advice Centre in Wantage operate a volunteer transport scheme from Monday to Friday, covering Wantage, Grove and outlying villages. They drive clients to any location including the Oxford hospitals. There is a charge for using the transport scheme and trips must be booked in advance.

Oxfordshire County Council are trialling a new scheme which will use their 16-seater minibus fleet between 10am and 2pm. The scheme could provide a completely flexible and affordable service where anyone can request transport (individuals, groups, schools, parish councils, etc.). For private hire it will cost £1.50 per mile and for shared journeys 75p per mile.

The county council still say that they want to encourage people to use their cars less and allow limited numbers of car parking spaces on new developments.

Obviously none of the decision makers live in the rural parts of Oxfordshire and try to use public transport.