JOBSEEKERS have welcomed a scheme that will give thousands looking for work in Oxford free bus travel next month.

Oxford Bus Company – including Thames Travel services – and Stagecoach, are offering free travel on their city buses for those who are aged 18 or over and have been unemployed for between three months and one year.

Known as Bus for Jobs, the initiative is a collaboration between bus companies and JobCentre Plus.

According to Office of National Statistics figures, there were 3,440 Oxfordshire residents claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in November who had been out of work for more than three months.

Wood Farm jobseeker Takeetha Forster, 27, who featured in the Oxford Mail’s We Want To Work campaign in September, said: “I think it is a good idea. It will get me to and from places to look for jobs. It will help, especially when you haven’t got any money to get about.”

Fellow job seeker Eileen Lavery, 48, from Didcot, who also featured in the campaign, said: “It would help me because obviously being on benefits, money is tight if you have to get anywhere.”

Carole Roberts, from Rose Hill and Donnington Advice Centre, said: “I think it will help jobseekers considerably.”