New community bus service for north Banbury villages to start in the new year

The bus will run a timetable between Hornton and Banbury. Villages connected by the service will be Horley, Balscote, Shutford, North Newington, Claydon, Cropredy, Mollington, Hanwell, Great Bourton and Little Bourton.

Oxfordshire County Council has announced the north Banbury service along with new community buses for Watlington, Bicester, Faringdon and Witney.

A spokesman for the county council said: “The service is envisaged to operate once a week as a minimum. The initial contract is anticipated to be from February 2024 until March 2025.”

The bus services are being restored to a number of communities which have been without regular public transport since 2016. The announcement follows Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet’s decision to allocate £1.2 million to improve rural public and community transport to connect more villages back to the bus network, market towns and Oxford.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said: “This is more good news for bus users on top of improved services announced last month – a £1 single fare cap for Sundays in December, new fleet of electric buses for Oxford and the extension of our park and ride parking and ticketing deal.

“Many people rely on buses to get around the county and we’re committed to working with providers to make it easy and reliable for them to do so.”

The new services are in addition to those funded by government through the council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, including new express peak buses from Banbury to Oxford.