Oxfordshire County Council is pleased to announce that the bus service through the village is being maintained – with two services now being provided.
Following Red Rose’s withdrawal of their commercial service 17, increased funding from Oxfordshire County Council has been provided to maintain a service between Bicester, Launton and Aylesbury, but this will be two-hourly instead of hourly. Marsh Gibbon, Edgcott and Grendon Underwood are served by school time buses on both school and non-school days.
Buckinghamshire Council have kindly agreed to divert their existing service 18 (Buckingham – Bicester) via Launton. A revised timetable will be in operation, partly due to disruption caused by a new HS2 road closure near Calvert. This service is operated by Langston & Tasker.
Oxfordshire County Council are funding a new Saturday service on route 18. This service will not serve Charndon and Calvert during the period of the HS2 road closure. The Saturday service will be operated by Red Rose.
Tickets will be accepted on both services between Launton and Bicester.
Overall, therefore, the service remains broadly hourly between Launton and Bicester with similar hours of operation – although for the first five months the headway between the two services will not be even due to the HS2 road closure referred to above. Links to Aylesbury are maintained, albeit at a reduced frequency, and a service to Buckingham is restored.
It is important that villagers make the best use they can of the bus service to secure its continuation. With maximum single fares currently £2, and MyBus day tickets for unlimited travel at £6.50 (£3.50 for under 19s), there’s never been a better time to try it out.
The timetable will be available shortly.
