OUSU Council voted to cancel the Safety Bus on Wednesday night. The motion, supported by OUSU Council stated that it believed the current Safety Bus service was inadequate and failing Oxford University students.
The Safety Bus service is run in partnership with the Oxford Brookes University Students’ Union, and costs OUSU £12,000 per year to run. The service provides a safe means of transport for students late at night.
However, no information is available about the number of Oxford University students that use the bus, despite OUSU repeatedly asking Brookes Union to collect the information.
A survey conducted two years ago, by the then OUSU Vice-President for Charities and Community, found that 70% of respondents had never used the bus during their time at Oxford University, while 20% had used it once and 10% had used it more than once. The average waiting time for the bus was found to be 16 minutes, with 17% of users having to wait more than 20 minutes for the service. A small number of users who had used the service found the volunteers “confrontational”.
The Safety Bus is run with the help of student volunteers from Oxford Brookes who are given training by Brookes Union. However, one of the key concerns raised was that volunteers are not asked to sign any form of contract or agreement regarding their expected conduct.
Another concern with the service is that it does not run for 25% of the full Oxford University term. In Trinity term of 2012, OUSU Council mandated the Vice-President for Charities and Community to ensure that the Safety Bus runs the duration of the Oxford University term.
The Current OUSU VP for Charities and Community, Daniel Tomlinson, told Cherwell, “Recently, I have been in discussions with Brookes about the Safety Bus and it became clear that they were not able to require the volunteers on the bus to sign codes of conduct for their behaviour, about which we have had concerns. They also won’t look into or keep a record of the number of University of Oxford students that use the bus.
“OUSU now has £12,000 to spend on an improved safety scheme, or other things that students think are important. I’ve been mandated to report back to students before the end of term on progress of finding an alternative, and I’ve already started speaking with local taxi companies and Common Room Presidents about potential alternative schemes.”
In the debate on the motion, concerns were raised that bus and taxi companies might be reluctant to transport students who were seriously drunk. However, a lack of willingness to reform the current service led to the Council voting to cancel the bus.
A first year historian said, “Without the safety bus, I don’t know how I could’ve got a member of my college home one night. They were helpful, and knew what they were doing.”
