Oxford Uber-style buses halted by traffic 'just not profitable enough'

Martin Dean said delays across Oxford meant that the service "just couldn't pick up enough people"

An Uber-style bus service used for about 300,000 journeys in Oxford "just wasn't profitable enough", in part because of traffic, MPs have been told.

PickMeUp was launched by the Oxford Bus Company in June 2018 as part of a two-year pilot but finished in June 2020.

Martin Dean, from Go-Ahead Group, which owns the company, said delays meant it "just couldn't pick up enough people".

In 2020 Oxfordshire County Council said it was a "great idea" but there was "no obvious way" of making it more viable.

Oxford Bus Company started the service in 2018

Mr Dean, Go-Ahead Group's UK regional bus managing director, told the transport select committee on Wednesday that the service was run at the company's own risk.

"The problem with it was it just wasn't profitable enough. One of the issues which was interesting was it comes back to congestion," he said.

"We just couldn't pick up enough people in an hour to earn enough revenue per hour to cover our costs."

He said it was at its "most profitable" during school holidays when it could make up to 14 or 15 pick-ups in an hour but in term times only seven or eight pick-ups were being made.