New Bus Services for Grove and Villages in the New Year

I am pleased to announce that Grove and other local villages will benefit from additional journeys on the A1 bus service on Tuesdays and Thursdays from TUESDAY 7 JANUARY. 

 

This new facility will be financially supported by 'Big Society' funds from myself and Councillor Stewart Lilly.  It will provide a direct link from West Hanney, Grove, Lockinge and Ardington to Didcot, enable access to Wantage and Mably Way Surgery on Monday to Friday in conjunction with the existing A1 journeys, and give East and West Hendred a direct service to Mably Way Surgery on Tuesday and Thursday. The timetable for the A1 service in its entirety is shown above with the new journeys covering Grove highlighted in red.

The service will operate until June 2015 and will be operated by Oxfordshire County Council's Integrated Transport Unit.  As with the existing A1 service on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, no fares will be charged.  Subsidised bus services in the Wantage and Didcot area will be reviewed from June 2014 onward, and this service will be included in that review along with that already provided on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  

I hope that Grove residents will be able to benefit from this new service which goes some way to providing a direct link to Didcot for two days a week.  Unfortunately, Thames Travel have completely abandoned Grove in their new service provision, so although this is not a replacement, it does at least help to give us something.  Meanwhile, I am still working on a long term solution to provide a commuter link for those residents who need a direct service to Didcot and Milton Park on a daily basis.