Giant 'super buses' ferrying people through the city centre could hold the key to plans to pedestrianise much of central Oxford.

Transport managers say the way to reduce bus numbers coming into the city is to have super buses picking up passengers at a new terminus near Magdalen Bridge or South Park.

Buses capable of carrying up to four normal bus loads are being looked at as part of a radical transport package that Oxfordshire County Council says would transform the city centre.

The council this week unveiled ambitious proposals to pedestrianise George Street, Magdalen Street, Broad Street and Queen Street over a five-year period.

But it has emerged that the council also has radical plans to reduce the number of bus journeys in the High Street, regarded as the biggest challenge for transport planners.

With no practical alternative route for buses bringing in tens of thousands of people into the city centre from the east, the council believes fleets of high-capacity buses could reduce bus flows in the High by 50 per cent.

An elaborate scheme is being investigated that would involve passengers arriving at The Plain or London Place, before transferring on to giant state-of-the-art vehicles.

A council document says there is scope at both locations to create a landscaped terminus. "Travel onwards into the city centre would then be a very high capacity transfer bus or on foot, or possibly a hired bike."

The council says transfer points or termini at London Place or The Plain could be created without any demolition of buildings or the construction of giant round- abouts.

The briefing document, entitled Where Will Buses Go?, says: "Improving the environment in High Street and St Aldate's is perhaps our biggest challenge. We need to reduce the number of buses using the street, but not the number of passengers."

It says one alternative to creating a transfer terminus east of Magdalen Bridge is to have bigger buses and fewer services. It is also proposed that express coaches to London and the airports would be re-routed.

County council cabinet member for transport, Ian Hudspeth, said giant buses were already operating in York, one of the cities that inspired the new bid to transform Oxford into a pedestrian friendly city. But Oxford's would be more state-of-the-art than York's FTR buses and the bendy buses operating in London.

He also stressed that plans to pedestrianise George Street and Magdalen Street in 2010 were not dependent on the introduction of larger capacity buses. The first steps to reduce bus numbers will begin next year in Queen Street, where pavements will be widened and bus stops removed. Queen Street, however, will only become fully pedestrianised in the second stage of the scheme, between 2011-13.