A TRANSPORT campaigner has dubbed Oxfordshire one of the worst counties for bus cuts as more services are lost.

Four buses will stop running by the end of the month – with operators blaming the county council’s withdrawal of subsidies last year.

Bus Users Oxford chairman Hugh Jaeger has attacked central government for ‘strangling’ local council budgets and urged the county’s MPs to stand up and fight for the people they represent.

Three buses operated by Thames Travel will be lost on Saturday: the 17, which links Jericho, Summertown, central Oxford and the train station; the 41, an Abingdon service; and the 114, which links Berinsfield and Dorchester with Abingdon, as well as being the only bus serving Culham, Clifton Hampden and Burcot.

Also, on Friday, July 31, the X8, operated by Pulhams Coaches and linking Chipping Norton and Churchill with Kingham railway station, will cease running.

Both companies have said the services are unsustainable without their subsidy.

The four losses follow other services that folded following the withdrawal of subsidies, including Thames Travel Bicester services, the 22 and 23, and multiple rural services operated by Heyfordian Travel linking villages with Cowley and Oxford.

Mr Jaeger said: “12 months ago Oxfordshire became one of the worst counties in England for county council bus cuts. And the results of those cuts are still getting worse."

He urged the county's MPs, particularly those representing rural areas, to take a stand.

Agreeing with Mr Jaeger, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon Layla Moran, who believes bus cuts affect the most vulnerable, said she has been fighting for bus services and increased council funding.

She added: "It's got to the point where we are literally isolating people and the Government seems to not have woken up to how bad this crisis is."

County council cabinet member Yvonne Constance said that, rather than reinstating subsidies, more imaginative solutions should be found, like the formation of voluntary transport groups.

She described last year's withdrawal of subsidies as a 'difficult decision' forced by the 'financial crisis' affecting local government.