Community hire vehicles Bart and Bernadette put in an appearance at Buckingham Pancake Races

Bart, the Buckingham Area Rural Transport community bus, put in an appearance at last Friday’s Buckingham Pancake Races, along with new arrival Bernadette, a wheelchair-enabled car for smaller groups.

The community transport project was originally launched in 2020 with the arrival of Bart, a 13-seater minibus with wheelchair lift, but had to be reined back due to the pandemic.

Despite the challenges, Bart has been regularly used by local groups including Buckingham Youth Club and Buckingham Rotary, and now the trustees of the Bart charity want more people to use its services.

To mark the relaunch, trustees Patrick Fealey and Warren Whyte welcomed Milton Keynes South MP Iain Stewart, who is chair of the government’s Transport Select Committee, along with Buckingham MP Greg Smith.

A steady stream of people came to look at the two vehicles, which are available to hire with or without a driver, with Bart project manager Ashley Waite on hand to demonstrate.

Bart founder Warren Whyte said: “This marks the next stage of our brilliant local community bus scheme and we welcome more people to make use of Bart and our new Bernadette wheelchair car, or consider volunteering a few hours a month to help make the project even more successful.”

The community bus scheme is looking for new volunteers, for local or longer trips, with a choice of day or evening slots to suit people’s availability. Contact Ashley Waite on 07977 401548 for more details.

More information about the Bart community transport service can be found on the Facebook page.