Oxfordshire has been promised £1.9 million in government funding to improve bus services throughout the county over the next two years.

This funding will see Sunday single fares in December in the run-up to Christmas set to be capped at £1 and the potential creation of a countywide day bus ticket valid for all operators.

This new funding comes in addition to £12.7m from the Government in August 2022 following the Oxfordshire County Council’s successful Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) application.

The additional £1.9m of funding – known as BSIP+ – is for measures designed to help maintain service levels and ensure essential social and economic connectivity for local communities.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for transport management, said: “This funding shows the importance that is placed on public transport in this county and our commitment to getting people back on to the buses. The package of proposals represents a step change in service provision across Oxfordshire, with all the districts benefitting from some level of improvement as a result.”

The council established the Oxfordshire Bus Enhanced Partnership with the county’s private bus operators earlier this year which brings together key stakeholders to deliver better services, ticketing and infrastructure. While bus operators retain their ability to make commercial decisions, they work with the council to promote improvements for passengers.

Rachel Geliamassi, managing director of Stagecoach West, said: "This additional funding is good news and has enabled Stagecoach to continue to make improvements to our services between Banbury and Oxford. We're working closely with Oxfordshire County Council to look at opportunities to improve bus services across Oxfordshire."

One proposal is to create a day ticket that is valid on all operators’ services in Oxfordshire.

Both the county’s main bus providers, Go Ahead (Oxford Bus Group) and Stagecoach, offer day tickets for unlimited travel on their own services across Oxfordshire.

There are also day tickets available within the SmartZone, which covers the area in and around Oxford city, that are valid on both operators’ services.

However, there is no countywide day ticket that can be used on all operators’ services. Money from BSIP+ is intended to be used to help create such a ticket and support reductions in other day ticket prices.

BSIP+ funding is also intended to: offer financial support for the current Oxford bus network, (including services affected by the Botley Road closure), provide a new bus service between Witney, Carterton, and Swindon, provide faster peak hour buses between Banbury and Oxford, help retain and improve Oxford orbital services serving the hospitals, including the 700, which additionally will run on weekends for the first time.