4:28pm Tuesday 29th December 2009
By Lawrence Dunhill
RESIDENTS will gather at a bus stop in Seer Green on Saturday to “mourn” the loss of a direct service to High Wycombe.
The 305, which travels between Uxbridge and High Wycombe seven times a day, will be “severely” cut from January 4.
It will only travel between Uxbridge and Beaconsfield, meaning Seer Green residents will be forced to get two buses into High Wycombe. The last bus of the day will also be cut.
Buckinghamshire County Council subsidise the service and have given the contract to a new company.
The Bucks Free Press recently featured Barbara Clarke, of Wood Pond Close, who urged the council to reconsider - saying life in Seer Green is “already like living on the Yorkshire Moors” (see link below).
Other villagers saw the article and have backed the pensioner's campaign.
Colin Walker, 68 on Wednesday, said: “They keep changing the timetable and reducing the service. We think that after another six months there will be another chop and it's a longer term strategy to take the bus service away completely.”
He said the elderly find it difficult to get to the village train station, which is around 20-30 minutes walk from the centre of Seer Green.
Pensioners are also entitled to free travel on buses in Buckinghamshire.
He has organised a public meeting on the issue at The Jolly Cricketers pub at 2.30pm. There will then be a demonstration at the bus stop outside the pub at 3.10pm to greet the last Arriva bus on its way to Uxbridge.
Andy Clarke, group manager for transport services at BCC, said the Beaconsfield to High Wycombe leg of the journey was not subsidised by the council and Jason Tours, which takes over the contract from Arriva in January, has chosen not to continue it.
He said passengers can change buses at Beaconsfield if they are travelling on to High Wycombe.
Seer Green Parish Council has also backed the villagers' campaign and chairman Phil Clarke will chair the meeting in the pub.
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