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Price rise at city's park and ride sites

Victoria WaltonOxfordshire political reporter
BBC Two green buses are picking up passengers at Oxford Parkway Park and Ride. There is a circular building behind them with three ticket machines.BBC
It will cost 50p more to use Oxford's park and ride services from Monday.

Motorists using a city's park and ride facilities will need to pay 50p more from Monday morning.

Subsidised through profits from the county council's congestion charge scheme, a combined park and ride ticket will now cost £3 for up to five people, to leave their car and get a return bus journey into Oxford city centre.

Previously, it cost £2.50 to park with free bus travel for two adults and three children.

Councillor Gareth Epps, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for transport said: "The temporary congestion charge is giving residents and visitors to the city faster journeys, cleaner air, reduced traffic and safer streets."

A white sign with black writing. It reads "from 17 August 2026 16 hours parking and return bus for up to five people £3".
The tickets, subsidised by the council, will stay at £3 until March 2027.

The initial £2.50 offer was introduced by the county council in October 2025 at the start of the temporary congestion charge.

The deal proved popular, with bus company Go Ahead - which owns the Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel - reporting eight per cent more passengers compared to last year. With a third of the increase coming on park and ride services.

In May, the local authority estimated the congestion charge had brought in a surplus of more than £5 million pounds, through payments and fines, and agreed to continue to fund a reduced park and ride ticket offer until the end of March 2027.

Epps said: "We now have an opportunity, with the funding from the scheme, to support some measures with lasting impact, that will improve convenience and road safety for the most vulnerable road users."

Getty Images A purple Park & Ride bus drives along an Oxford street.Getty Images
The £3 park and ride ticket will be subsidised through profits from Oxford's temporary congestion charge

The park and ride offer is part of a series of planned benefits announced by the council to be funded through profits from the congestion charge.

Free or discounted weekday bus travel for NHS and school staff working in Oxford and a hospital express service from the park and rides have all been announced but have yet to begin.

"The measures we have agreed to fund ... go some way towards tackling some of the persistent traffic problems we've seen, and also help to spread the benefits of the scheme as widely as possible, ensuring workers in our schools and hospitals, too, see the benefits," Epps added.

The congestion charge will come to an end on Sunday 27 September, to be replaced with a traffic filter trial.

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