Doctors and nurses are being encouraged to hop on a bus to work, with the promise of half-price fares, writes Victoria Owen.

Managers are ploughing charitable funds into the scheme to help all acute care staff get cheap transport.

Anyone working at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals, which include the Headington-based John Radcliffe and Churchill, and the city centre's Radcliffe Infirmary, will be able to have 50 per cent off a monthly pass.

The scheme includes Stagecoach and Oxford Bus Company routes within the zones around Oxford, including journeys to and from Abingdon, Kidlington, Bicester, Didcot and Witney.

It will run during November and December as part of the ORH Trust's transport strategy, which aims to reduce the amount of cars travelling to its already packed sites.

Although hospital staff already receive a 20 per cent discount, transport strategy officer David Edwards hoped bigger reductions would entice people on to public transport. He said: "About seven per cent of our staff use buses at the moment, less than those who cycle, but with the winter coming on, people are more likely to want to keep dry and reasonably warm when they come to work."

Mr Edwards said the subsidy costs were still unclear, because it was not known how many hospital staff would take up the cheap travel offer.

Earlier this year the trust brought in special parking measures to reduce the number of staff travelling by car to work.

Only people who need transport during their working day or those working inconvenient shifts are eligible for the new parking permits.

The move has come as managers gear up to redevelop the JR and Churchill sites.

If planning permission is granted, the hospitals will soon house departments from the older Radcliffe Infirmary a move that Headington residents are concerned could cause congestion in the area.