Oxford Hospitals charity branded electric bus unveiled
Oxford Bus Company has launched its first electric branded bus, supporting Oxford Hospitals Charity, the 2024 winner of its Brand the Bus! competition.
The bright pink electric double-decker is wrapped with the Oxford Hospitals Charity logo as well as images of staff who work in Oxfordshire hospitals. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with members of the charity, hospital and Oxford Bus Company teams took place outside of the John Radcliffe Hospital on Wednesday 14th August.
Charity and hospital staff who feature on the bus popped down to see themselves emblazoned across the double-decker and celebrate the launch of the new charity bus.
The bus is now in service on routes across the city, as part of Oxford Bus Company’s extensive new electric fleet. The local charity won the popular Brand the Bus! 2024 competition following a public vote, scooping a £40,000 package including branding on a vehicle and a year’s worth of advertising with Greatest Hits Radio.
The charity funds specialist medical equipment and research and creates more comfortable and welcoming facilities for patients in the Oxford Children’s Hospital, John Radcliffe, Churchill, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Horton General Hospital.
Sarah Vaccari, Head of Communications at Oxford Hospitals Charity, said: “We were absolutely thrilled to win the amazing Brand the Bus competition earlier this year – it is an incredible prize for a local charity like ours. We’ve loved working with the team at Oxford Bus Company to bring the new design to life, focussing on celebrating the staff who are the heart of our hospitals. It’s been amazing to see their faces today as the new bus was unveiled for the first time.
“We really hope our bright pink bus can’t be missed as it drives around Oxfordshire, so it will introduce many more local people to our charity, helping us to continue to make a real difference in the hospitals that look after us all.”
Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company Managing Director, said: “It’s fantastic to see our first charity branded electric bus go into service, backing an excellent local good cause. We’re proud to support Oxford Hospitals Charity as part of our community values and look forward to the bus helping raise awareness of all the great work they do.”
Adam Newstead, Head of Content at Greatest Hits Radio South, said: “What a worthy winner! We are proud to support this campaign and look forward to working with Oxford Hospitals Charity as part of their prize to showcase their amazing work on Greatest Hits Radio.”
A record-breaking number of people voted for good causes this year with more than 11,000 public votes cast online. The overall winners were selected from the top ten good causes by a judging panel. Be Free Young Carers scooped second place and Style Acre came third.
Harwell based Be Free Young Carers provide emotional support, recreational and social activities to children with caring responsibilities across Oxfordshire and will receive a new ‘mega rear’ advertisement on the back of a bus.
Style Acre provides supported living, work and skills programmes for people with learning disabilities and autism, with community centres in Didcot, Wallingford and Banbury. It will receive a £1,000 worth of digital on-board advertising to help raise awareness of its activities.
Oxford Bus Company is shortly set to announce the details of its Brand the Bus 2025! competition, providing more good causes with the opportunity to receive support.
Earlier this year Oxford Bus Company began the rollout of its fleet of 104 electric buses, which will make it one of the largest zero-emission fleets outside London.
It has been funded via a collaboration between Oxfordshire County Council and bus operators Oxford Bus Company, owned by The Go-Ahead Group and Stagecoach. The Council was awarded £32.8M from the government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme and contributed £6M directly, while bus operators invested £43.7M.
The groundbreaking infrastructure project is a huge boost to Oxford’s vision to creating a more sustainable, decarbonized public transport system and improving air quality.
ENDS
Photo credit: Oxford Medical Illustration
