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Oxford Bus Company

About Oxford Bus Company

Oxford Bus Company runs a comprehensive network of local bus services in and around Oxford, and coach services from Oxford to central London, and to Gatwick and Heathrow airports. It runs the popular Park & Ride service, connecting five car parks at the edge of the city to the city centre, and the highly successful BrookesBus network of services in partnership with Oxford Brookes University.

Partnership is at the heart of company's philosophy. An informal partnership with Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council started in 1973, which has served as a model to other operators and local authorities; it has also been one of the most successful in the UK. Bus patronage has grown hugely in that time, and buses now have a modal share of 50% for journeys into the central area: in the last two years, use of the company's services has grown by 14%.

Buses play a vital role in maintaining the economic success of Oxford within a sensitive historic setting. Oxford Bus Company's contribution to this has been to provide high quality, frequent services operated by attractive buses at value for money prices. To enhance the experience of passengers, more than 85% of vehicles are fitted with air conditioning or air chill equipment. All vehicles are fitted with GPS positioning equipment which allows us to control our services, and gives customers real-time information at bus stops. A survey conducted by Passenger Focus revealed that Oxford Bus has one of the higher passenger satisfaction rates in the UK.

The company has innovated in smartcard technology to make journeys faster, simpler and payment easier. Now fewer than 50% passengers pay for their travel on-bus. This has proved hugely popular and more than 45,000 smartcards are now in circulation.

Oxford Bus has been at the forefront of industry initiatives on the environment. It pioneered the use of particulate traps to improve emissions from diesel engines, and this policy has continued with recent deliveries being to Euro V or the higher EEV standard. An independent study carried out by The TAS Partnership ranks Oxford Bus as having the most environmentally friendly bus fleet in Britain. Its emissions for carbon monoxide, particulate matter, hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen were the lowest in the study. In 2011, the company took delivery of seventeen hybrid diesel-electric double deck buses which operate all journeys on the famous and pioneering Oxford Park & Ride system. A target for carbon reduction has been set at 20% against 2008 performance and so far a reduction of 12% has been achieved.

During 2011, the partnership philosophy has been extended to embrace other operators as well as local authorities. A pioneering partnership made possible under the 2008 Local Transport Act has allowed services to be coordinated on four corridors between Oxford Bus and Stagecoach, with the approval of Oxfordshire County Council, and smartcard ticketing has been made inter-available between operators. This has resulted in a reduction of up to 25% in the number of buses in some environmentally sensitive streets in central Oxford, whilst service frequency and capacity has been maintained.

In 2011, Go Ahead acquired the high quality operator Thames Travel based in Wallingford, Oxfordshire and placed this in common management with Oxford Bus. Thames operates to the south and east of Oxford, to Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage, and into Reading, Bracknell, Wokingham and West Berkshire.