Sir – I congratulate Rodney Rose for the speed with which he successfully found replacements for all bus services operated by RH Transport.


Many of the routes affected service rural areas and villages with no other public transport links, such as the No.18 that travels from Carterton to Oxford through villages including Northmoor and Cassington.


Without these bus services, many people in local communities without a car have no means of access to health and other public services in larger towns and it is, therefore, critical that they continue to run.


I note with interest that the new contracts have been awarded for nine months through to June 2013 but this does lead me to two questions:
l Do the contracts bind the bus companies to continue to work the affected routes for the duration of that period?


l What action is the county council taking to ensure that public transport will continue to service the more rural communities of Oxfordshire after June 2013?
 

I hope this is something the county council is already thinking about and that we won’t wake on July 1, 2013, to find that residents in outlying villages can no longer get to doctors’ appointments.
Jess Lawson, Eynsham