More free buses for the elderly could be provided in Oxford next year after controversial cuts to dial-a-ride services, a senior councillor said last night.

The city’s dial-a-ride service was cut in April after responsibility for its operation was passed from the city and district councils to Oxfordshire County Council.

Elderly and disabled people who cannot use public transport can call up the service to book journeys around the city between 9am and 5pm.

A service is also run in the other four council districts in Oxfordshire, with dial-a-ride buses now operating in South Oxfordshire for the first time. The district council had not funded a service there in the past.

Before the changes in April, two dial-a-ride buses operated in Oxford each day but now there is only one on the road.

Northway resident Edith Parsons, 86, is no longer able to use the service to travel to a social club in Marston on Thursdays.

The service is now divided between the north and south of Oxford, with people in each area only able to use the service on specific days.

Until April, residents could use the service on any day, irrespective of where they live.

Mrs Parsons said: “Our pick-up days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

“They are not picking us up at all on Thursdays.

“I went on the public bus once but it was very difficult to go home and I have not been to the club for a couple of weeks. Fewer people are going to the club.

“One lady has been in tears over it.

“It means we’re relying on lifts from other people.”

Disability campaigner Gwynneth Pedler, from Cumnor Hill, said: “It has not been going all that well, but the county council is trying to solve this.

“There has got to be a little bit of give and take on both sides and people may have to change the day they go shopping on.

“But we have been getting problems with people wanting to go to social clubs.”

In the year up to April, the county council, the city council and Cherwell, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire district councils spent £470,000 on dial-a-ride.

The county council has maintained its £160,000 budget for dial-a-ride in 2012-13.

When the council took over responsibility for the dial-a-ride service, which it is not legally required to manage, it said the districts could fund additional buses in their areas if they wanted to.

Only Cherwell has done so, meaning that there are two buses running for three days a week in the district.

The county council’s so-called baseline service means there is one bus in each district, provided by its integrated transport unit.

The service is used by 175 passengers a week across Oxfordshire.

Rodney Rose, the county council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “We have said from the start that the onus is on the district councils to provide more buses.”

He said the county council was continually modifying the service and was attempting to work with social groups to make sure the elderly could still attend clubs and other gatherings.

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said it would “seriously consider” putting more money into dial-a-ride next year but no definite decision would be made until later this year.

He added: “We had a 28 per cent cut in our Government grant last year. We were then looking to make significant reductions across a wide range of services.

“We had to make a choice and dial-a-ride was not seen as being at the top of the priority list, because the data was not there.”

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