Plans to double park-and-ride charges are poised to be dropped, with urgent talks under way to establish a cheaper ticketing system.

Oxford City Council has been taken aback by the outrage provoked by plans to hike up charges from 50p to £1.

In a policy U-turn, the Liberal Democrats said they now intended to freeze park-and-ride charges and look at a series of alternatives.

In a bid to reduce its £800,000 "subsidy" for park-and-ride, the city council will ask Oxfordshire County Council to take over the management of the sites.

Discussions have also begun with bus companies, who are being asked to agree to a single-ticketing system that would see users buy only one ticket.

The rethink comes on the eve of Monday's vote on the city council budget.

The park-and-ride proposal was put forward after a £1.7m hole emerged in the council's finances. But it left the Liberal Democrat Party badly split, while provoking a major rift with Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford's business community.

The Lib Dems leader on the city council, Corinna Redman, set out the group's new approach yesterday.

She said that details of a single-ticketing system incorporating car parking and bus charges were being "actively worked out".

Mrs Redman said: "There would be a reduction in the running costs. Our aim all along has been to reduce the substantial subsidy currently being paid by city council tax payers."

David Young, the county's director of environmental services, said: "We very much welcome the city council's change of heart."

**A legal challenge could be made to stop the fifth park-and-ride being built on Green Belt land, near Kidlington. An urgency sub-committee was deciding today whether to support Kidlington residents' call for a judicial review.