MORE than 1.5 million passengers took journeys on Thames Travel’s Connector services in the last year, new figures have revealed.

The data for the company’s most recent financial year revealed nearly 200,000 more passenger journeys were taken compared to the previous 12 months, a 13 per cent increase.

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This year Thames Travel has invested in improving connectivity to employment sites located in the south of the county via its Connector services.

This includes improved links between the city of Oxford and Harwell Campus and between Abingdon and Culham Science Centre.

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It has also added new services to Great Western Park, in partnership with Taylor Wimpey and Oxfordshire County Council, connecting residents to key regional employment hubs including Didcot, Harwell and Milton Park.

The multi-million-pound investment in new services and new ultra-low emission vehicles has also created new jobs and Thames Travel is holding an on-going recruitment campaign for bus drivers.

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The investment is new services has been well received by customers with more than 30,000 passenger journeys now taking place on Connector services per week on average.

Thames Travel managing Director Phil Southall said: “A key part of our strategy has been to develop attractive bus services to serve major employment hubs in the south of the county via our Connector brand. We have done so via investment in new routes and services which has improved connectivity for some of the fastest-growing areas of economy in the county.

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“The annual figures are encouraging and demonstrates the value of bus services to the overall economic well-being of the county. The investment has created more jobs for the Oxfordshire economy, and we are actively seeking drivers to support this important growth area.”

Thames Travel’s fleet of buses are low emission vehicles (Euro V or better) and it is the third largest bus operator in Oxfordshire.

It serves South Oxfordshire and into Berkshire, carrying 2.9m passengers per year.