ACORN Oxford have the achieved the first step in their road to victory with the ‘Better Buses for Oxfordshire’ campaign!

Our members and other residents in Oxfordshire are being put through misery with their bus service. Buses are expensive as they are run by multiple private operators who do not accept saver tickets across different networks. The buses are also unreliable - many key routes have been cut because they’re not ‘profitable’, and the buses that do run are very often late or cancelled. 

ACORN Oxford spoke to hundreds of residents, including parents brought to tears just trying to do the school run, and elderly people who can’t get to the shops or see family.

So ACORN Oxford are demanding that Oxfordshire County Council takes buses into public control to tackle these problems. National legislation means the council can’t currently set up their own bus company, but they can introduce bus franchising. This would give the council (rather than private companies) the power to set bus routes, timetables and fares, to make sure they're run for people, not the profits of bosses and shareholders. 

The branch campaigned for this over the past five months, door-knocking residents and presenting their findings to the council. The council leadership refused to listen at first. But after taking action at council meetings, lobbying councillors, and working with the opposition to amend the council budget, ACORN Oxford eventually secured a commitment from the council to take the first steps towards bus franchising! 

Now they’ve got the money secured in the budget, ACORN Oxford will carry on pushing for a decent bus service for Oxfordshire!