Oxford Bus Company expands EV fleet with £5.1m investment
The new vehicles comprise nine large single-deckers and four smaller single-deckers, manufactured by Wrightbus and Alexander Dennis. They are being deployed on routes beyond Oxford’s SmartZone, including services linking Abingdon, Great Milton, Wytham, Bicester and Chesterton. The first vehicles have already entered operation.
The funding includes £3.9 million from Go-Ahead, parent company of Oxford Bus Company, alongside £1.2 million from the council via its Vehicle Improvement Fund, supported by central government funding for bus service upgrades.
“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,” said Luke Marion, Managing Director of Oxford Bus Company. “The exciting news is it will enable us to operate electric vehicles more widely across the county, rather than mainly on routes within Oxford.”
Marion also highlighted the role of policy measures and demand growth: “This further investment is the result of strong partnership working and improving traffic conditions in Oxford […] 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.”
Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Transport Management at Oxfordshire County Council, described the project as ‘an excellent example of partnership working delivering real benefit and value to our residents.’ He said that the investment will ‘see an increase of vehicles on our local network which are zero emission from the tailpipe,’ noting that more than one third of services in the county are already operated by low-emission buses.
Oxford Bus Company began electrifying its fleet in 2020 and completed a major rollout in 2024, introducing 159 electric buses in partnership with local authorities and Stagecoach Group. This was supported by £32.8 million from the government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, alongside contributions from the council and operators.
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