Making buses greener

Thanks to funding from the Government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, bus companies Stagecoach and the Go-Ahead Group, and from Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford now has one of the largest electric bus fleets per capita in the country. 159 brand-new electric buses are in service across the city, gradually introduced since November 2023. These buses are supported by new charging infrastructure at local bus depots with Go Ahead's buses charged using renewable energy.

The new buses are high specification and feature a brand-new livery, for the first time common between both of Oxford’s operators.

To support our climate goals and improve air quality, new minimum emissions standards for buses were introduced in June 2025 as part of the Oxfordshire Enhanced Partnership Scheme (some exemptions apply):

• Buses operating entirely within the Oxford SmartZone must be zero tailpipe emission vehicles.
• Buses operating partially within the SmartZone must meet Euro VI standards for NOx or better.
• Buses operating elsewhere in Oxfordshire must meet Euro V for NOx or better.
• Diesel-engined vehicles must switch off their engines when stationary at bus stops for more than one minute.

Oxfordshire's Bus Service Improvement Plan funding allocation for 2025/26 includes approximately £1.4m to offer a new Vehicle Improvement Grant Fund. This fund will be open to all operators of local bus services in Oxfordshire, enabling them to bid for funding towards enhancements to their bus fleet. Such improvements could include the introduction of zero-emission vehicles or upgrades to on-board technology such as tap-on/tap-off readers.

In parallel, we are actively exploring additional opportunities to introduce alternative-fuelled vehicles into the fleet, subject to the availability of additional funding, and further countywide bus emissions standards are planned to come into force from 1 January 2030.