ELDERLY and disabled bus users could be hit hard by changes to services in the city centre when Queen Street is pedestrianised.

The road is currently closed to buses while work is done on the Westgate shopping centre and Oxfordshire County Council is currently consulting on making the move permanent to cater for an expected increase in shoppers when the site officially opens in October.

But users have warned that increased distances between bus stops as a result of the scheme will have a devastating impact on elderly and disabled people travelling through the city.

Sarah Lasenby, 79, of Morrell Avenue, Oxford, is concerned she will face a longer walk across Oxford if new bus stops were created further down St Aldate’s.

She added: “Passengers who get a number 2 bus into Magdalen Street and then walk to St Aldate’s for a connecting service could find themselves walking longer distances.

“The result of the closure of Queen Street last year for building work was more buses in St Aldate’s and this made it more difficult for older and disabled people to catch buses at stops with more routes.”

Queen Street will re-open in September when the current work is done but is expected to close a few weeks later when Westgate re-opens. The county council intends to start a pedestrianisation trial of Queen Street on an 18-month ‘experimental’ basis, expected to start on October 22.

The bus stop in Bonn Square will go and there will be new bus stops in Hythe Bridge Street, Park End Street, High Street, St Aldate’s, Castle Street, Norfolk Street and New Road.

The Government guideline for a bus service to be ‘accessible’ by users is 400m. Oxford Bus Company has said that some walks will be in excess of the guideline for those changing buses.

Hugh Jaeger,of Bus Users UK, said: “The pedestrianisation of Queen Street will make an already deteriorating situation worse for bus users - it’s the wrong policy for a green sustainable Oxford.

“Some passengers, including the elderly and frail and mums with buggies will face longer walks across the city centre.”

The county council is expected to make a decision in July on the proposals after the consultation ends on June 23.

Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach have both opposed the scheme but shopping centre owners Westgate Oxford Alliance and the city council have backed it.

County council spokesman Martin Crabtree added: “Service allocations to stops will be decided by the bus companies and will change as a result of the experimental order, and in order to serve the new Westgate.”