Oxford Bus Company and Oxford Brookes University have announced they will move their BROOKESBus service to a fully electric fleet.
The partnership, which serves students, University staff and the wider community, will have 21 vehicles from Wrightbus in service by the end of the year.
The buses are part of an order announced in January for 99 StreetDeck Electroliner double-deckers and five GB Kite Electroliner single-deckers.
Representing parent company Go-Ahead Group’s largest zero-emission purchase to date, the order was partly funded by Oxfordshire County Council’s successful bid to the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme. The ZEBRA funds also supported Stagecoach’s order revealed in January for 55 Alexander Dennis electric double-deckers.
Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company Managing Director, says: “Our partnership with Oxford Brookes University is based on strong shared sustainability and community values and we’re delighted to be entering our 15th year delivering crucial bus services to provide connectivity for its campuses and the wider community.
“Our partnership working with the University has achieved some excellent milestones in reducing private vehicle use and significantly improving Oxford’s air quality. Therefore, it is apt that the first delivery of 21 electric buses to go into service in the city will be on the BROOKESbus services to take us a step closer to Oxford becoming carbon-neutral.”
Professor Alistair Fitt, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, adds: “The BROOKESbus service provides a crucial transport service for students, staff, local residents, and visitors to our fantastic city and county. We are pleased to have extended our partnership with Oxford Bus Company and I am delighted that the city’s first fleet of electric buses will be introduced for the BROOKESbus service.
“Oxford Brookes has a strong commitment to sustainability and declared a Climate Emergency in 2021. We have a strategy in place to support Oxford’s ambition of achieving net-zero carbon emissions as a city by 2040, 10 years ahead of the legal deadline. This exciting development for the BROOKESbus service will play a key role in that important carbon reduction goal.”
BROOKESbus was introduced in 2009 and, in the ten years to 2022, the service has transported approximately 23.5 million passengers. The partnership says this has saved an estimated 1.5 million car journeys each year from Oxford’s busy roads and led to a reduction of 15 million kilogrammes of carbon emissions.
An extended contract between Oxford Brookes and Oxford Bus Company will see the continuation of the 100 (BROOKESbus U5) and the 400 (BROOKESbus U1) services, the number of buses on the routes having recently increased from 18. The partnership has also announced improvements to the BROOKESbus app to support the tracking of buses and the purchase of discounted tickets for travel outside of Oxford.
