Services to Milton Park in Oxfordshire will increase in frequency and capacity following a renewed partnership with Thames Travel.

The renewed collaboration follows Milton Park’s survey which found that, for the first time, more than 50 per cent of the 1,000 employees who were surveyed were opting for more sustainable methods such as bus, bike and car sharing to travel to work, compared to single occupancy vehicles.

Veronica Reynolds, sustainability and community manager at Milton Park, said: "The latest survey shows people are becoming increasingly climate-conscious when choosing how they want to travel to Milton Park, with buses playing a significant role in that shift away from single occupancy car-usage.

"We know from the travel survey that the £20 bus pass has been particularly popular in this regard and provides excellent value for occupiers.

"With an improved frequency of services in 2024, Milton Park is delighted to renew its partnership with Thames Travel."

"The Park looks forward to seeing how employees and residents alike will benefit from these improved services in the new year, in the hope it will encourage even more people to leave their cars at home."

The survey also noticed an 18 per cent rise in bus usage since the pandemic due to incentives such as the Park’s £20 employee bus pass.

The pass offers unlimited to and from bus rides from home to the park for employees residing in Didcot, Drayton, Great Western Park, Ladygrove, Milton, Northbourne, Steventon or Sutton Courtenay throughout 2024.

Luke Marion, managing director of Thames Travel, said: "Whilst roadworks across Oxfordshire have caused problems with congestion in recent months, this significant investment from Milton Park will allow Thames Travel to work closely with Milton Park’s team to improve the punctuality and reliability of timetables and services, especially on the X32 route.

“Performance has been monitored closely through a real-time tracking system, which shows the route needs greater capacity, which is why an extra bus will be added to the service from 7th January 2024.

"Thames Travel hopes the improvements will bolster reliability, giving the service extra resilience and in-built capacity to cope with future traffic conditions.”

Further enhancements include 13 Milton Park-branded buses operating countywide, and double-decker buses will be more prevalent on the routes from March, gradually replacing single-decker buses.

Commenting as part of the travel survey, a commuter to Milton Park who uses the bus pass, said: "I absolutely love the bus pass – it's a massive incentive to get the bus every day even though I own a car... [the bus pass is] the best travel perk that I've ever been offered to commute into work."