A BUS firm is to stop running five West Oxfordshire services five months after council bosses cut cash support.

Go Ride will stop running the W1, W1A, W2 and W3 Witney services and the X10 bus between Witney and Chipping Norton at the end of the month.

Stagecoach stopped running the Witney routes in June after Oxfordshire County Council withdrew all funding as part of £300,000 in travel cuts.

Abingdon’s not-for-profit Go Ride then took over but the Oxford Mail reported passenger concerns that services were a “farce” because of overcrowding.

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Buses had only 16 seats and Go Ride had to call taxis because there was not enough room on some services.

Now the county council has said it will work to continue services along the affected routes and services will stop from Saturday, November 29.

Deputy leader Rodney Rose said: “I am sorry that Go Ride cannot continue to operate these bus services but I am aware that they provide a valuable service to the passengers who depend on them.

“The county council is taking urgent steps to work with other bus companies to keep these services running from December.

“We will announce our plans as soon as possible to give reassurance to the local communities.”

The June changes were among eight routes taken over by a mixture of Stagecoach, Go Ride and the Villager community bus service to save the council £300,000.

Go Ride director Dave Harrison said: “The services are being withdrawn because they are not commercially sustainable – passenger numbers and hence revenue were significantly lower than expected.”

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