Transport chiefs say they are struggling to reverse a decline in bus use in Oxford.

With the entire transport strategy geared to getting more people to use buses in Oxford, Oxfordshire County Council has admitted it is running out of ideas.

Dick Helling, the county's public transport Officer, was giving evidence to MPs on the Transport Select Committee, who are investigating bus services.

And Mr Helling painted a far from happy picture of public transport in Oxford, with rising fares, longer journeys and a drop in the frequency of some services.

He told MPs that growing traffic congestion meant it took "variable lengths of time" for buses to get into the city centre.

He said: "We are starting to see a decline in usage because the bus operators are finding that, in order to maintain the same level of service, they are having to put more and more buses and drivers in."

The county council committed itself to increasing bus use by 10 per over three years in an agreement with the Government.

But Mr Helling admitted that following the creation of bus-only lanes, the county had been able to do little in recent years to bring about further improvement.

He said: "In Oxfordshire over many years we have had an effective partnership with bus oper- ators.

"During that time we have been progressively finding new ways to give buses freedom from the effects of traffic congestion. We have rather run out of new ways to do that."

Mr Helling added: "There has been something of a drop in the frequency of some services. In other services they have felt obliged to increase the fares by perhaps more than they otherwise would have chosen to do in order to cover the costs of the extra buses and drivers to carry the same number of passengers."

Graham Jones, of the traders' group Rescue Oxford, said: "The county's own figures indicated a couple of years ago that traffic into Oxford had fallen significantly.

"Now we are hearing that an increase in general traffic is getting in the way of buses."