A NEW private school bus network could ease the load for parents and reduce congestion into the city centre.

Five city independent schools have partnered up to create the network, which will see nine 50-seater buses travel into Oxford from as far as Reading, Goring and Chipping Norton.

The collaboration, led by Magdalen College School, also involved the city and county councils to alleviate traffic problems on the school routes.

The service, open to pupils at MCS, Headington School, Oxford High School, d'Overbroeck's and Rye St. Antony, will launch in September.

Magdalen College School's usher, Toby Beaumont, who led the project, said: "The key community goal of the network is to reduce the amount of traffic in Oxford.

"Our schools have combined to ease congestion in the morning and afternoon.

"It will have environmental benefits as well, in terms of reducing air pollution, and we hope it will make the city a more pleasant place to be at those times of day."

The transport scheme will cost parents £1,650 a year if they are in zone 5, which lies furthest outside the county, reducing to £705 for zone 1, which includes Cutteslowe, Boars Hill, Beckley and Sandhills.

Parents initially raised the issue in 2014 and discussions between the independent schools to work to implement the complex timetable began in 2015.

Currently some pupils use unofficial coach services arranged by individual schools but many parents drive in from outside the city on a daily basis.

The new system also has a 'cross-city' feature where youngsters can hop on in certain parts of the city and travel between Summertown and Headington for the final leg of the bus route at a reduced cost, such as between schools, for £500 a year.

Head of development at Oxford High School, Maria Gara, said: "We know that many of our families have siblings at different schools across the city and this offers them an efficient, reliable means of doing the school run.

"It’s great to think that students from as far afield as Abingdon to Bourton-on-the-Water and from Goring to Brackley can access all that Oxford has to offer."

Mr Beaumont added that sign up had been good so far and he hoped most of the 50-seater buses would fill up by the launch in September.

He said: "Above all else the schools want a safe and secure home to school transport system for our pupils.

"It came from the parents at first, who wanted a reliable service to get their children to and from school."

The routes have been put together based on the need for them at each school.

The earliest bus will leave Bourton-on-the-Water at 6.20am, returning just under twelve hours later.

The quickest journeys will take pupils from Cutteslowe to d'Overbroeck's and from London Road to Headington School.

To see all the routes and timings go to oxfordhigh.gdst.net/bus-routes and to book a seat email info@osbp.net