Decision details

With the consent of Council, Councillor Reeves moved an alteration to his motion at the suggestion of Councillor Price as shown in bold italics and strikethrough below:

“This Council believes that residents in Oxfordshire should have the greatest possible choice of transport available to them.

This Council notes Oxford City Council's refusal to grant licenses to new entrants in the private-hire market including peer-to-peer ridesharing apps. As these services need a critical mass to be successful, the decision by the City Council is having a detrimental effect on the other areas of the County, including all the district areas, and thus contributing to rural isolation by depriving people of services and choice.

This Council calls on the Leader of the Council to write to:

(a)      The Leaders of Oxford City Council and all district councils with a view to ensuring that residents consumers enjoy haveadiverse range of accessible transport options, which could include the licensing of private hire vehicles for new entrants into the market, to meet their varied needs and support greater choice of private-hire services by extending licenses for new entrants to that market and by assisting this Council’s efforts in extending the provision of bus services in the light of new legislation that has already enabled successful innovative services in the County.

(b)      The County's commercial and community bus operators with a view to widening the availability of bus services in the County, including hop-on-hop-off services, and to relevant partners as above, including also parishes and prospective community groups, so as to encourage the provision of new services. This has already shown to be a great success with the initiatives such as the Pick Me Up Service and this should be extended to other areas of the County.”

The motion as amended was carried by 53 to 0, with 3 abstentions.

RESOLVED: (53 to 0, with 3 abstentions)

“This Council believes that residents in Oxfordshire should have the greatest possible choice of transport available to them.

This Council calls on the Leader of the Council to write to:

(a)  The Leaders of Oxford City Council and all district councils with a view to ensuring that residents havea diverse range of accessible transport options, which could include the licensing of private hire vehicles for new entrants into the market, to meet their varied needs and support this Council’s efforts in extending the provision of bus services in the light of new legislation that has already enabled successful innovative services in the County.

(b)      The County's commercial and community bus operators with a view to widening the availability of bus services in the County, including hop-on-hop-off services, and to relevant partners as above, including also parishes and prospective community groups, so as to encourage the provision of new services. This has already shown to be a great success with the initiatives such as the Pick Me Up Service and this should be extended to other areas of the County.”