Town services change hands as Go Ride quits Oxfordshire

Community interest company Go Ride has closed its Oxfordshire business, citing ‘a change in management’ on its Facebook page.

It established operations in the county in 2011, but several routes succumbed to the county council’s heavy reduction in subsidised services last year. Conversely, it stepped into the gap to attempt to provide commercial routes where other operators gave up.

Its remaining four routes — two Witney town services, another in Banbury and the hourly 134 linking Wallingford to its nearest railway station at Cholsey — last ran at the end of January. The town services have been taken on by community operators, while the 134 is now run by a new community interest company Going Forward Buses.

Go Ride continues to provide three services in Essex.

Go Ride Volkswagen Crafter SN58 BZG, with the remains of Shropshire Link branding, on the B1 Banbury town service in the penultimate week of operation. DAVID JENKINS