OUSU axe “essential” safety bus
The safety bus made 4,000 trips for Oxford students last year, and a further 10,000 for Brookes
The OUSU Night Bus, which has provided safe transport home after hours to Oxford students since 2001, will be cancelled due to a lack of funding. OUSU made the final decision to cancel the bus last week after the collapse of a corporate sponsorship deal. Although Oxford Brookes students will still be able to take advantage of the service, Oxford University students will have to make the trek home themselves.
Running the Night Bus without sponsorship would cost up to £10,000, 10% of the guaranteed income OUSU receives from college subscriptions. Last year the bus made an estimated 4,000 trips for Oxford University students and at least 10,000 more from students from Oxford Brookes. Jenny Hoogewerf-McComb, OUSU Vice President for Women, said she was “deeply disappointed” about the cancellation.
“However,” she continued, “I am quietly confident that an agreement will be reached allowing the bus to run again as usual next year. OUSU is looking into securing college financial support for the bus.” Martin McCluskey, JCR President of St. Hugh’s, also expressed his regret at the cancellation. “Particularly for colleges such as St. Hugh’s that are far out from the centre, it’s a really important service.
McCluskey also expressed surprise that the bus relied on corporate sponsorship rather than a more secure source of funding. “I was under the impression that that corporate sonsorship periodically ran it, not that it depended on it,” he said. “Perhaps if all the JCRs could get together we could fund the bus in the short term, however there hasn’t been a good enough push from OUSU for such a scheme”.
Some students have complained that they called the Night Bus, only to be told the service has been discontinued for Oxford students. LMH fresher Henry Clarke- Price was left stranded outside The Bridge on Tuesday night with no way of getting home. He recalls, “It was incredibly frustrating. It pissed all over a great night.
2nd Nov 2006