As Oxford nears the end of a truly transformative year on the buses, Oxfordshire County Council and its bus operating partners have announced significant changes to the city’s SmartZone joint operator scheme. Richard Sharman reviews the project and its electric future
It’s an exciting time for both bus users and operators in Oxfordshire, with the culmination of years of planning. A brand new fleet of electric buses is being introduced, with enhanced passenger features, and carrying a new green and blue based livery for both of the city’s main bus operators under the SmartZone brand.
The launch for the scheme comes just weeks after the first electric double-deckers for the city were placed into service.
Pre-SmartZone innovation
Before we get into the enhanced scheme, it is important to document the previous innovation that has been shown by Oxfordshire bus operators pre-millenium.
Oxford is one of the poster children of the bus deregulation era, so it was probably a great surprise to the industry, and the city’s bus passengers, when it was announced that a multi-operator bus ticket was to be launched.
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