johncrossley
Established Member
Routes in Oxford are going to be rationalised. Roughly speaking, Oxford Bus or Stagecoach will withdraw from certain corridors so that only one operator runs all services on that corridor instead of both companies running alternate buses.
This all sounds very sensible, but bizarrely if you look at the ticketing advice it seems quite clear they are planning to keep single company tickets! This seems contrary to what is intended under the new regime.
Oxfordshire Network Review - Introduced from 2nd January 2022
Oxfordshire County Council has concluded a detailed review of the Oxfordshire bus network involving major local operators.
www.oxfordbus.co.uk
Oxfordshire County Council has been undertaking a detailed review of the Oxfordshire bus network with the major operators, which includes Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel. This follows a clause in the National Bus Strategy that encouraged local authorities to work with its operators to try and remove as much ‘wasteful duplication’ in the network as government spending on buses increases - both through recovery funding and the Bus Service Improvement Plan.
After extensive negotiations, we’re pleased to say that this network review has now been concluded and it will be introduced by Oxford Bus Company, Thames Travel and Stagecoach from Sunday 2nd January 2022.
Oxfordshire service changes
View a summary of the changes to buses in Oxfordshire from 2nd January 2022
www.stagecoachbus.com
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on travel habits within the county since March 2020. Whilst we have welcomed many of our customers back, we recognise that the return of bus use in Oxford has been slower than we are seeing in many other parts of the country.
As recommended in the government’s National Bus Strategy, Oxfordshire County Council has worked proactively with bus operators to identify opportunities for greater efficiencies through the reduction of unnecessary duplication in the network, with the aim of placing the network on a more secure financial footing while minimising impact on passengers.
Oxfordshire County Council worked closely with Oxford’s main bus providers on the review, which was prompted by lower than usual passenger numbers, a reducing Government funding, and a national shortage of driving staff. It looked at how best to balance the available resources with the areas of greatest need.
The consultation has led to an agreement to change how we operate parts of the network and has allowed Stagecoach to start to make changes to reset our network for the future. In doing so however, this means we will have to say goodbye to some of our customers, which has been a difficult decision to make. Our drivers, some of whom have driven the same routes for most, if not all of their working life at Stagecoach, will also be sad to say goodbye to their regular customers on some of our Stagecoach services.
This all sounds very sensible, but bizarrely if you look at the ticketing advice it seems quite clear they are planning to keep single company tickets! This seems contrary to what is intended under the new regime.