BUS bosses have agreed to look at Bicester's public transport to see what can be done to improve the service for passengers

A plea for bus routes to be redesigned and better joined up was made by town councillor Les Sibley, plus an appeal to form a user group to give residents a voice.

Stagecoach managing director Martin Sutton has agreed to consider ideas such as hospital routes, airport routes and better thought-out local buses.

He said: "Bicester has always had a pretty good bus service and one in which our services have not been affected by cuts in the last few years.

"We are always looking to expand and improve our services particularly with the growth there is going to be in the area in the coming years.

"We also talked about a bus users group which is something we want to work on as it's important to hear people's views."

It come after Thames Travel cancelled routes 22 and 23 after revealing they were losing £4,500 each week – making them unsustainable.

The services between Bicester town centre and Bure Park were among many other local routes that ended last month after Oxfordshire County Council axed all bus subsidies to make savings, meaning many services were no longer profitable.

As a result Mr Sibley called for more to be done to ensure the future of Bicester's remaining bus services.

He said current services need to be streamlined, advertise the park and ride and to connect Bicester to the Oxford hospitals and London or Birmingham airports.

The councillor said: "I have had some very positive talks with both Stagecoach and Oxford Bus Company.

"It is my understanding that they are on board with looking into these ideas and both were very willing to participate with a bus users group.

"One of my main concerns was the S5 route between Oxford and Bicester as I had heard many people say that the service was not stopping at the park and ride.

"All in all the talks have been very positive and it is all just about seeing what is possible for Bicester buses and to put forward the concerns and aspirations of local people."

Oxford Bus Company managing director Phil Southall said the town needed a good bus service but insisted change was unlikely without financial support.

He said: "With all the growth planned in Bicester over the coming years, we think it's clear that the town needs an effective public transport system to cope with this and stop things grinding to a halt. "However in the short term, Bicester bus services aren't financially viable without some form of kick start funding to bridge the gap between the demand that exists today and the cost of running the services.

"In the medium term, if services are well planned an expanded Bicester should certainly be able to support its own bus network and therefore we welcome Mr Sibley's efforts to draw attention to this important issue."