Wait is over

They have waited two years to get a new bus shelter and now four have come along at once.

Oxford City Council has finally replaced the dilapidated and vandalised structure on Wood Farm Road, but has installed three more as well.

Bus users are delighted with the new shelters, two of which are on Wood Farm Road, one on Mason's Road and a fourth on Girdlestone Road.

Una Simmons, of Nuffield Road, said she catches buses for almost all her journeys.

She said: "It's a huge improvement on what was here before. They have been cemented which will hopefully mean nobody can break them. I even like the new signs.

"I hope nobody will vandalise them, but what can you do? The only thing is to get a CCTV camera put up there, but I don't know if that is realistic."

Peter Bonney, also of Nuffield Road, has been one of the leading campaigners for new bus stops.

He said: "It's important that we have had these new bus stops because it actually tidies up the estate. It's a place people can wait and not feel like they are in a derelict building.

"The last bus stop was inadequate and out of date.

"At long last the Wood Farm area is getting recognised. We have been the forgotten estate for a long time."

In July, the Oxford Mail reported that yobs had vandalised more than a third - 50 out of 129 - of the city's bus shelters and caused £40,000 worth of damage.

The total repair bill was estimated at £50,000, with £40,000 worth of the destruction caused by vandals.

The damage included graffiti on the walls and the destruction of perspex panels and roofs.

The city council admitted that one of the two bus shelters on Wood Farm Road had been left in a poor state for nearly two years.

Cllr Joe McManners said he was pleased the new bus shelter had been erected.

He added: "I'm very pleased to see the new shelter has gone up. It looks a lot better than what was there before, but bus users should not have had to wait for so long."