Thirteen new electric buses will soon take to Oxfordshire’s roads following an investment of more than £5.1 million.
The Go-Ahead Group, the parent business of the Oxford Bus Company, has spent £3.9m, backed by a £1.2m investment from Oxfordshire County Council via its Vehicle Improvement Fund grant scheme, which utilises some of the £10m in funding awarded to Oxfordshire by central government to improve bus services in the area.
The investment will enable Oxford Bus Company to expand its fleet of electric buses across the county, helping further improve air quality for local communities. The bus operator is rolling out nine new large electric single-deckers and four smaller electric single-deckers on routes extending outside the Oxford SmartZone, with the first tranche of vehicles going into service last week.
The buses, which have been produced by UK-based manufacturers Wrightbus and Alexander Dennis, will serve the 35 route to Abingdon, 46 to Great Milton, ST2 to Wytham, and the 21 service between Bicester and Chesterton.
Luke Marion, Managing Director of Oxford Bus Company, said: “This is another major sustainability milestone in our continued strategy to help deliver a significant contribution to improving air quality in the communities we serve.
“The exciting news is it will enable us to operate electric vehicles more widely across the county, rather than mainly on routes within Oxford.
“This further investment is the result of strong partnership working and improving traffic conditions in Oxford, thanks to schemes including the county’s temporary congestion charge and the successful introduction of free travel on the Park & Ride.
“This has led to increasing bus usage, which in turn has given us the confidence to commit to investing further in expanding our electric fleet and I’d like to thank OxfordshireCounty Council and Go-Ahead Group for supporting the investment.”
Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said:
“This is really good news and an excellent example of partnership working delivering real benefit and value to our residents. The purchase of these new electric vehicles, with more improvements to follow, has been made possible by the council’s continued close working relationship with our bus operators through our Enhanced Partnership, soon to be strengthened further.
“We have awarded an element of this year’s bus grant from the government to this project which, alongside a substantial investment from Oxford Bus Company, will see an increase of vehicles on our local network which are zero emission from the tailpipe. Over one third of the services operating in Oxfordshire are now operated by these cleaner and greener buses, contributing to a better climate for all.”
(Picture: Oxford Bus Company)
