It’s official: we’re living in the age of electric buses. The big battery-run vehicles are slowly taking over UK cities as part of efforts to slash emissions and clean up the air.
The latest area to embrace the electric transport trend? Well, that’d be none other than Oxford – and the uni city is getting into e-buses in a very big way. Oxford is officially getting 159 new battery-powered buses, which means it will have more electric buses per capita than bigger British cities including London and Glasgow.
The first buses from the new fleet will be taking to the city’s roads from today (Monday, January 15), following a ceremony to celebrate the launch. They join Oxford Brookes’ 21-strong collection of electric double-deckers (which launched in November 2023) and the City Sightseeing buses, which also run on electricity.
The scheme cost a total of £82.5 million, of which £43.7million was contributed by bus operators Go Ahead and Stagecoach. The rest of the funding came from the council and the Department for Transport’s Zebra scheme to fund zero-emission buses.
Once the whole fleet is up and running, only zero-emission buses will be allowed to operate in Oxford. More restrictions will apparently be enforced on other types of vehicles to reduce congestion and improve air quality. The city already has several ‘bus gates’ that block certain vehicles and there are plans to encourage people towards public transport or active travel where possible.
There’s been loads of hi-tech bus upgrades around the country recently. Take these driverless buses that were introduced to Glasgow last year, Manchester’s dazzling new bus network or London’s futuristic electric ‘tram buses’. Now there are even more reasons to ditch cars for public transport!
Did you see that this is officially Britain’s most vegan-friendly city?
Plus: Yorkshire is getting a spectacular new coastal bike path.
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