OXFORD could become home to more than £80 million worth of electric buses after a mammoth bid to the Government was submitted.

Oxfordshire County Council applied for £32.8 million from the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme.

Bus companies Go-Ahead and Stagecoach have put in £43.7 million, on top of £6 million from the county council, in the package worth £82.5 million.

The scheme could deliver 159 electric buses and the infrastructure to charge them.

If successful, the buses would operate in the areas stretching from Kidlington to Sandford, and from Cumnor to Wheatley.

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Tim Bearder, the county council’s cabinet member for highway management, said: “This Government’s levelling up agenda aims to ‘bring the rest of the country’s public transport up to London standards’.

“That is a laudable and ambitious aim. It can only be achieved by significant and determined investment in our bus network and doesn’t currently match the reality on the ground.

“That is why I hope our transformational electric bus bid is supported. The county council will then do its bit to re-engineer the network to make that investment work effectively and efficiently.

“This is what Government says they want, what our bus operators need and, ultimately, what our residents deserve.”

Rachel Geliamassi, managing director at Stagecoach West, said: “If the bid is successful, it will be a monumental step forward towards decarbonising public transport in Oxford and, once aligned with the delivery of Connecting Oxford [a plan to transform the city’s transport system],will truly transform bus travel in the city.

“This investment forms an important part of Stagecoach’s strategy to deliver a zero emission bus fleet across the UK in support of the country’s net zero ambitions.

“This, combined with encouraging motorists to switch from cars to more sustainable transport options, such as buses, offers the best possible solution for reducing carbon emissions and improving local air quality.”

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The new buses are expected to cut an estimated 9,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Oxford City Council deputy leader, and cabinet member for green transport and zero carbon Oxford, Tom Hayes said: “The importance of a zero emissions bus fleet is clear as we seek to achieve our ambitious target to become a net zero city by 2040 or sooner.

“As we introduce Britain’s first zero emission zone pilot, the submission of the ZEBRA bid is timely and critically important to bring about the large-scale adoption of electric buses across our city.”

Phil Southall, managing director of Oxford Bus Company, added: “We are hugely supportive of this ambitious and exciting vision to significantly improve Oxford’s air quality and carbon emissions.

“Go-Ahead and Oxford Bus Company have always been at the forefront of introducing sustainable low carbon technology in the UK.

“More than three-quarters of our fleet meet the Euro VI emissions standard and three of our Oxford city sightseeing vehicles are already electric.

“A scheme of this scale of course comes with challenges and the significant bus operator investment required to support the transition to electric will require public policies to reduce congestion, speed up bus journey times by 10 per cent, and encourage active travel such as cycling and walking.”

The Government decision is expected next month and, if successful, the new electric buses should start to be delivered to Oxford’s roads between the summer of 2023 and the spring of 2024.

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