AS bus passengers faced the reality of losing their only means of transport, some were gifted with a temporary saving grace that will sustain their service for three more weeks.

More than 50 routes stopped yesterday after Oxfordshire County Council withdrew its subsidies, but commuters travelling between Oxford to Berinsfield and Abingdon were happy to hear a sliver of good news amid their anguish.

Thames Travel issued an announcement on Facebook about its T2 service, which was among 50 bus services in Oxfordshire set to discontinue this week.

It said thanks to "financial assistance from Great Western Railway" is was able to provide a temporary T2 bus, with a slightly different route and timetable, from Monday until August 12.

Cowley resident Wendy Earl, who uses the T2 daily to get to work in Berinsfield, said: "This is nice information to hear. It could be very helpful - but it's only temporary.

"When it stops I will have to get the bus all the way into Oxford city centre from Berinsfield and get another bus back on myself, which could take two hours.

"If it's too stressful to get home I'm going to have to loose my job.

"Ian Hudspeth is always advocating using public transport and cycling and yet they're cutting buses."

For information on the temporary T2's timetable and route visit thames-travel.co.uk.