No 46 to Le Manoir: Raymond Blanc funds local bus service to restaurant

theguardian.com:

With rural buses in long-term decline and a funding crisis putting more routes in peril, a surprising service has appeared on the English transport menu: the No 46 bus to Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.

Raymond Blanc’s celebrated restaurant and hotel in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside may not appear classic bus territory. The Michelin-starred establishment’s seven-course dinner with matching wines starts at £350 a head, rising to just over £1,000 if you want to drink the good stuff.

The last bus back to town at 1am could, however, save a couple a further £1,000 on an overnight stay – or at least prevent an argument over who is the designated driver, after washing down the Cornish lobster and new season lamb with a last glass of premier cru.

While the hotel advises that some customers do indeed get onboard, particularly if coming first by train, the bus service is primarily for staff. The hospitality sector, like many others since Brexit and Covid, has struggled to fill vacancies, and the service allows the rural business to tap into a pool of workers from the city.

Launched earlier this summer, route 46 is funded in roughly equal parts by the celebrity chef, the county council and passenger fares. Fares cost £3.50 one-way, with discounts bringing the cost down to £2 for staff who travel regularly, and the seven-day, hourly bus can be tracked online as it runs from Oxford through neighbouring villages to Le Manoir in Great Milton about 10 miles away.

The partnership has led not only to the rebranding and extension of a threadbare route to the luxury hotel, but also allowed the Go-Ahead-owned Oxford Bus Company to invest in two new low-emissions buses for the route.

A decade of cuts had cut the area’s patchy access to the