Headington Councillors Present Bus Petition

12.00.00am GMT Sat 30th Dec 2006

Stephen Tall collecting bus petition signatures

Cllrs. David Rundle and Stephen Tall presented the 'Bring Back Our Bus!' petition to the County Council and Stagecoach at the most recent meeting of the city council's North East Area Committee (19th December). Over 100 residents in and around Headley Way signed - just the tip of the iceberg - to demonstrate their opposition to the re-routing of the No. 10 which deprives them of their service.

(To read the original story, 'New Lib Dem petition: Bring Back Our Bus!' (30th Oct, 2006) please see www.stephentall.org.uk/news/000432.html).

To add insult to injury, the re-routing is the result of the introduction of the Osler Road bus route to access the JR Hospital. This is something local people and Headington Lib Dems had opposed - Osler Road is a narrow street quite unsuited to a two-way bus route, with the extra buses turning in and out further clogging up the already congested London Road.

There are a number of elderly residents living in the area of Headley Way who relied on the No. 10 service for getting to the local shops, as well as to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. Understandably, they feel cut-off by the removal of their local bus.

The news that we received from the County Council and Stagecoach was not hopeful. Stagecoach, as a commercial outfit, are unwilling to run a service they doubt will make a profit; and the County Council offered little prospect of helping subsidise a new route. Not good news for local residents, then.

"Handing in the petition is not the end of our campaign; merely the start!" Stephen said after the petition's presentation.