Grants of £1.405 million have been awarded to bus companies and community transport groups to support upgrades to their vehicles for the benefit of passengers and the environment.
Oxfordshire County Council has approved seven vehicle improvement grant applications that will collectively help fund 13 new electric buses, convert two existing minibuses from diesel to electric power, and deliver passenger enhancements to many other vehicles.
The grants have been awarded under the council’s vehicle improvement fund, new for 2025/26, and funded through the Bus Grant awarded by the government.
The fund was open to all operators of local bus services in Oxfordshire. The initiative has attracted an additional £4.056m in collective investment from the operators, which will result in improvements in vehicles totalling £5.461m.
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 new electric vehicles and improvements to existing ones 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 look forward to seeing passengers using them in the future.”
Successful bids included the Oxford Bus Company’s parent group Go-Ahead, which was awarded £1.204m towards the purchase of 13 new single deck electric buses to serve the Oxfordshire area.
Luke Marion, Managing Director of Oxford Bus Company, said:
“This is another significant sustainability milestone for the Oxfordshire bus network and takes the total number of electric buses now operating in our Oxfordshire fleet to 117.
“The investment from Oxfordshire County Council has been supported by an additional £3.9m investment from our business, and collectively this enables us to expand our fleet of electric buses on to more routes outside the Oxford SmartZone, further improving air quality for local communities.
“The result of strong partnership working, I’d like to thank Oxfordshire County Council and Go-Ahead Group for supporting this investment.”
Reading Buses was awarded £60,000 to improve the passenger experience in four vehicles which serve Peppard Common, including installing USB chargers, 5G ready Wi-Fi and tap-out readers.
Three community transport operators have also received grants.
West Oxfordshire Community Transport (WOCT) was awarded a total of £138,605 towards the cost of converting two diesel minibuses into fully electric vehicles, install EV charging equipment and fit internal and external CCTV camera systems on all its vehicles.
WOCT is a community owned cooperative, running nine bus routes across west Oxfordshire and providing vital transport links for the local community.
Andrew Lyon, Chief Executive of West Oxfordshire Community Transport, said:
“We are very excited regarding the opportunities provided by the VIF grants. The first grant will provide cameras for our buses, which will enhance safety for both our drivers and passengers.
“The second grant will enable us to explore the possibility of converting redundant diesel buses to electric vehicles. Conversion of redundant buses is a double win for the environment.
“Conversion means the carbon emissions produced during both manufacture and operation are drastically reduced. In addition, as far as we know, this conversion has not been attempted before. If the project is successful, it will provide a template for the future.”
(Picture: Oxfordshire County Council)
