Bus service closure is 'devastating' for its users

Users of a rural bus service say its closure will leave them cut off, and they are upset and unsure how they will cope.

The Ability Bus service, based in Towcester, Northamptonshire, will cease operating on 13 April, impacting elderly and vulnerable people who rely on it for daily travel and social contact.

Ability has cited funding challenges and the loss of its office and parking premises as reasons for the closure.

Alice Fuller, 77, from Wootton, who has used the service for the last six years, said the news was devastating.

"It's been a lifeline. I don't know what I'll do without [Ability.] I use it for everything, mainly to be with other people, just to get out of the four walls," she said.

She has been on an Ability bus since the announcement, and said the atmosphere onboard was sombre.

"Everybody was down in the dumps. Normally we're on the bus, singing to the radio. We have banter between all of us, we joke with the drivers. But today there was nothing," she added.

The minibus service was started by Lynn and Nigel Hinch in 2018 in response to other bus routes being cut.

It has provided transport in Brackley, Daventry, Northampton, Towcester and Banbury.

West Northamptonshire Council, which subsidised concessionary fares for Ability, said the service saw between 25,000 and 28,000 passenger trips a year.

The local authority added that it had already started talking to other community transport groups, volunteer driver schemes and parish councils to "understand capacity within the local sector and identify where resident need is most urgent".

Mary Mooney, 89, from Northampton, said the service had helped her cope following the death of her husband and had become central to her social life.

"The day my husband died… somebody [from Ability] just got hold of my hand and said, ''We're all with you'," she said.

"When you're grieving you don't really want to do anything… but [Ability] didn't allow me to do that.

"It will leave a big hole in my life because it was my social life as well. These people on this bus are my friends.

"[Ability] was absolutely priceless to me."

Regular passenger Robert Mitchell, 79, from Horton, near Northampton, said: "The big thing that we will all miss is that it's like having a second family… we are really close."

"We are determined that one way or another we are going to stick together."

"As long as I can walk two and a half miles [to the nearest bus station in Denton] across grass and fields, I'll get to Northampton."

In a statement on its website, Ability said it was announcing its closure after eight years "with great sadness".

The company said: "Sadly, a number of challenges mean we are no longer able to continue operating in a sustainable way."

It cited reasons including "rising operating costs, including vehicle maintenance, fuel and insurance" for its closure.

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