OXFORD'S bus fleets are to be transformed as the two major operators go into overdrive to outsmart each other.

Stagecoach Oxford has ordered another 29 new LoLiner Buses, bringing the total amount of cash pumped into vehicle investment this year to more than £10m.

Not to be outdone, the Oxford Bus Company has spent £8.5m on new low-emission buses since March 1995 and plans to spend another £6.5m in 1999.

Some of the buses to be replaced by the new generation of easy-access LoLiners at Stagecoach Oxford were only bought in March. Stagecoach Oxford marketing manager David Whitley said: "The new vehicles are great news for our customers - even though they are replacing buses just seven months old.

"The manufacturers have improved on an excellent design, giving an even better travelling environment. As a regular bus user myself, I would class them as near perfect."

The new buses, made by German company MAN and Scottish firm Alexander, are already in use on the 7A service between Kidlington and Barton.

The Oxford Bus Company has issued a leaflet "Our Red Buses Are Green" to celebrate the fact that all its 150 buses now run on ultra-low sulphur diesel that reduces emissions by 30 per cent and particle pollution by ten per cent.

The company has just ordered 20 new double-deckers to ply the Park and Ride routes, and is about to order 15 single deckers, all fitted with Continuous Regenerative Traps (CRT) to combine an exhaust catalyst with a particle filter to reduce emissions.

A new gas-powered bus is back in action after it was withdrawn on its first day of service following a crash in Oxford. The bus, which will soon be joined by a second, is being lent to the Oxford Bus Company by manufacturer Arriva DAFF for a three-month trial.

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