Stagecoach Oxfordshire

[goldisgood]

Times for the 600 now up on bustimes.org, also includes weekends which I hadn't expected. The vehicles saved at Witney from the H2 seem to be partially going into new morning and evening trips on the S2 as far as Witney, times here. The 600 will certainly face some issues having been introduced before the traffic filters, but I suppose the continuing Botley Road fiasco doesn't really leave any other options given the vast majority of the electric buses have arrived and the H2 needed retendering anyway.

The S2 trips appear to be positioning for the earliest runs on the S7, which looks to have 2 more diagrams moving to Witney to replace the H2?

 

[Parebunks]

The S2 trips appear to be positioning for the earliest runs on the S7, which looks to have 2 more diagrams moving to Witney to replace the H2?

Yes, I've since been told that the whole S7 is moving over to Witney, along with its allocation - about 6 vehicles all told. Neatly fits in with starting the 600 such that (I think!) Oxford will be PVR-neutral and Witney will gain 4 for now.

 

[Cowley]

Thread reopened for @Parebunks to update

 

[Parebunks]

Following on from Oxford Bus, Stagecoach have announced their congestion charge-facilitated changes, albeit kicking in several weeks later. Link here.
The changes to the main routes (1, 2/2A, 8, 10, 14) are minimal despite how they are framed on the article, the 10 actually goes down from 5bph to 4bph - perhaps linked to the improvements to the OBC 100.
The main, and in my view rather bizarre, changes are as follows:
- The 600 (around the Eastern Arc from Thornhill and the JR to Cowley and Redbridge) is extended through to the city centre, then beyond up Banbury Road to Oxford Parkway.
- The 800 (Horspath Road and Redbridge to Gloucester Green) is likewise extended to Parkway, then around half continue to Kidlington and Yarnton.
In isolation the changes to the 800 just about make sense, the Yarnton-Kidlington link and a fast bus to the airport are interesting additions, and the return of a site-specific route from Parkway is somewhat welcome. The 600 on the other hand makes absolutely no sense and I fail to understand any reason to make this change. For those unfamiliar with Oxford geography I've drawn a map of the new route, which I would suggest has to be one of the least direct bus services in the country.

Not only is there obviously no end-to-end demand via this route, there are essentially no trips where a faster alternative is not already available. Even if the congestion charge works as intended I imagine the reliability will be utterly horrendous.
As a general point, this means that essentially the entirety of Stagecoach's contribution is 4bph extra on the Parkway-city centre-Redbridge corridor. This is ridiculous, and the sort of situation Enhanced Partnerships etc were meant to mitigate - there are already by my count 19bph OBC services from Redbridge to the city centre, so this will mean a bus around every 2 minutes along the Abingdon Road - far far in excess of demand even if uptake of the 'free bus' park and ride offer is above expected. Although I have doubts about some details of OBC's offer, the overall approach seems better, and Stagecoach could have taken some similar lessons - restoring links like Banbury Road to the rail station, or separating the 14 back out to have separate Marston and Risinghurst services.

In unrelated Stagecoach Oxford news, the last of the 159 ZEBRA electric buses finally entered service this week - 80046 had been held back due to manufacturing issues, and used for spare parts up till now.

 

[SheikhYerboote]

Following on from Oxford Bus, Stagecoach have announced their congestion charge-facilitated changes, albeit kicking in several weeks later. Link here.
The changes to the main routes (1, 2/2A, 8, 10, 14) are minimal despite how they are framed on the article, the 10 actually goes down from 5bph to 4bph - perhaps linked to the improvements to the OBC 100.
The main, and in my view rather bizarre, changes are as follows:
- The 600 (around the Eastern Arc from Thornhill and the JR to Cowley and Redbridge) is extended through to the city centre, then beyond up Banbury Road to Oxford Parkway.
- The 800 (Horspath Road and Redbridge to Gloucester Green) is likewise extended to Parkway, then around half continue to Kidlington and Yarnton.
In isolation the changes to the 800 just about make sense, the Yarnton-Kidlington link and a fast bus to the airport are interesting additions, and the return of a site-specific route from Parkway is somewhat welcome. The 600 on the other hand makes absolutely no sense and I fail to understand any reason to make this change. For those unfamiliar with Oxford geography I've drawn a map of the new route, which I would suggest has to be one of the least direct bus services in the country.
View attachment 190994
Not only is there obviously no end-to-end demand via this route, there are essentially no trips where a faster alternative is not already available. Even if the congestion charge works as intended I imagine the reliability will be utterly horrendous.
As a general point, this means that essentially the entirety of Stagecoach's contribution is 4bph extra on the Parkway-city centre-Redbridge corridor. This is ridiculous, and the sort of situation Enhanced Partnerships etc were meant to mitigate - there are already by my count 19bph OBC services from Redbridge to the city centre, so this will mean a bus around every 2 minutes along the Abingdon Road - far far in excess of demand even if uptake of the 'free bus' park and ride offer is above expected. Although I have doubts about some details of OBC's offer, the overall approach seems better, and Stagecoach could have taken some similar lessons - restoring links like Banbury Road to the rail station, or separating the 14 back out to have separate Marston and Risinghurst services.

In unrelated Stagecoach Oxford news, the last of the 159 ZEBRA electric buses finally entered service this week - 80046 had been held back due to manufacturing issues, and used for spare parts up till now.

For least direct route I would put this as the 2nd most indirect routing that I know of… after another Stagecoach Route MK1 - Bedford to Milton Keynes via Luton Airport !

 

[318266]

...which I would suggest has to be one of the least direct bus services in the country.

I regret to inform you, but First Glasgow likely wins here: shown is service 3 from Drumchapel to Govan via just about everywhere.
Not to mention route 90, but I exclude that because it is essentially a tweaked former circular (indeed the subsidised 189/190 evening runs are true circulars...)

 

[PeterC]

I am guessing that they wanted a direct link from the Oxford Parkway P&R to the Science Park and thought that bolting it onto the 600 was the best operational solution.

I have doubts but in 1979 I wasn't convinced of the value of trains from Camden Road to Stratford!

 

[JD2168]

I regret to inform you, but First Glasgow likely wins here: shown is service 3 from Drumchapel to Govan via just about everywhere.
Not to mention route 90, but I exclude that because it is essentially a tweaked former circular (indeed the subsidised 189/190 evening runs are true circulars...)
View attachment 191009

I’d contend with the First South Yorkshire 18 from Sheffield to Hillsborough. A direct journey takes barely 15 minutes, on this about 2 hours

 

[higthomas]

I'm guessing this must have been in partnership with the city/county council. Those sorts of bodies love the idea of orbital services, even if they're unlikely to get much/any traffic. (In that regard I think Oxford has more potential than other places.)

See https://busandtrainuser.com/2025/10/25/deregulated-buses-anniversary-weekend-part-1/ about Cambridge's T2 for example.

 

[goldisgood]

As a general point, this means that essentially the entirety of Stagecoach's contribution is 4bph extra on the Parkway-city centre-Redbridge corridor. This is ridiculous, and the sort of situation Enhanced Partnerships etc were meant to mitigate

Completely agree with this - it's a very odd set of changes, and considering how closely the council has been working with both Stagecoach and Go Ahead recently, I do wonder why these changes have happened like this.

The 600 on the other hand makes absolutely no sense and I fail to understand any reason to make this change. For those unfamiliar with Oxford geography I've drawn a map of the new route, which I would suggest has to be one of the least direct bus services in the country.

Also agree - it's a very strange route. At the very least it gives a faster bus from the city centre to the Science Park and Greater Leys? I almost think it would be best to leave it at that - maybe you could run it direct between Hollow Way and the JR, as I'm not sure it really benefits anyone serving Brookes/Churchill with the 100/700 running every 10 minutes.

In isolation the changes to the 800 just about make sense, the Yarnton-Kidlington link and a fast bus to the airport are interesting additions, and the return of a site-specific route from Parkway is somewhat welcome.

Agree on the benefit of site-specific services to Parkway - withdrawing the 500 at the time made complete sense, but numbers have really picked up since and the 2/2A are at capacity at peak times, so the extra capacity will certainly be welcomed. Oddly the journey time on the 800 seems to be 12 minutes longer to the Airport than the S7, which is 40% longer for comparison. Links from Yarnton to Kidlington and Parkway will be welcomed I'm sure, although previous attempts have never been commercially viable (there was a peak 7A service from Yarnton to Parkway at one point, but that didn't last too long - a while back I'm sure there were some subsidised shopper services between Yarnton and Kidlington).

so this will mean a bus around every 2 minutes along the Abingdon Road - far far in excess of demand even if uptake of the 'free bus' park and ride offer is above expected.

Completely agree - a waste of buses IMO. I also wonder if Cowley Road is becoming overserved - granted it is (I believe) the highest usage corridor in the city, but any capacity issues it faces have always seemed to me to be more an issue of load-balancing than frequency (in part due to stopping arrangements in the city centre). The 10/100 will provide way more capacity than required, not to mention the 5A boost and recently-changed Cowley Road 500. Although I appreicate the 100 provides a better link to Brookes/Churchill, you're losing a turn-up-and-go service on the 10 for two services that can't be timetabled together, and increasing capacity on a corridor where I question how much it's needed.

All in all, it does seem a shame that these changes (across both companies) seem to over-bus certain corridors rather than provide genuine improvements for the whole city (and surrounding villages/suburbs). I just can't see how Hollow Way can justify the jump from 5 buses an hour a couple years back to more than double that now, yet other corridors across the city haven't even had pre-Covid frequencies restored (Morrell Avenue, Marston Road, Northway and Risinghurst in particular).

 

[LW84]

I've recently become aware that Stagecoach are ending the S2 route (Oxford - Witney - Burford - Cheltenham) ... last date 28-3-26 (as mentioned by certain councillors on FB)... commercial decision to end it. Go Ahead (Pulhams) will take over a similar route and frequency, numbered X52 and will be limited stop Oxford - Witney, and is to be run with support from Oxfordshire County Council. Likely to lose the 'positioning' trips though.

Limited stop journeys that currently exist on the S5 (Oxford-Bicester) on selected peak flows (route S5A) are apparently going to be expanded/become the normal on that route from late February.

 

[DaveHarries]

Following on from Oxford Bus, Stagecoach have announced their congestion charge-facilitated changes, albeit kicking in several weeks later. Link here.

Just tried to view this but broken link. I also tried going via the home page of Stagecoahc Oxford but no mention there so may have been taken off.

Dave

 

[carpo]

Just tried to view this but broken link. I also tried going via the home page of Stagecoahc Oxford but no mention there so may have been taken off.

Dave

The basic details of this are the changes marked as 30th November 2025 - https://bustimes.org/licences/PH0005863
It's frustrating though that Stagecoach remove things from their website so quickly though!

 

[LW84]

More changes to route operations for Stagecoach (West) in their Oxfordshire operation as relates to Oxford...

ServiceUpdatesArticle

www.stagecoachbus.com

From 31 May, we will be making changes to bus services in the Oxford urban area. Service 10 will be replaced by four new services, improving connectivity across the east of the city. Most communities we serve will benefit from faster journeys, as well as improved frequency and reliability. On shared sections of the routes, the services will combine to provide buses every 15 minutes, delivering a more frequent and dependable network.

I'd say the end of the old City Circle as-once-was of the 10 was on the cards for a while.

Most of these new changes seem to focus on corridors and tweaks to that route as-was. More operational convenience by terminating services with easy link back to their depot...

This is in addition to the split of the previously discussed 600 route into two parts as a result of tender changes with Oxfordshire County Council - with Stagecoach having service 900 between Parkway and Kassam Stadium, and Oxford Bus retaining and modifying the 600 on a revised route (Thornhill to Railway station via too many bits!)

The throughflow (across all relevant services) into Redbridge P&R and along Abingdon Road seems a little excessive! Another 2bph on top of previous.

 

[Parebunks]

Registrations appearing for the 30th August, where a combination of retenders and the reopening of Botley Road mean a big set of changes. Looks like the 14 has been lost to OBC, and variation applications are in for S1, E1, S2X (now registered as S2), S3, S5, S6, S7, S9, 233/234, and Bicester local routes 25 and 29. Will be interesting to see what the Witney routes look like after 3 years of a diverted S1 - that the registration for the E1 shuttle hasn't been cancelled and the S2X is now the S2 suggests there might be more changing than a return to the pre-2023 setup.

 

[lpjthomad]

Registrations appearing for the 30th August, where a combination of retenders and the reopening of Botley Road mean a big set of changes. Looks like the 14 has been lost to OBC, and variation applications are in for S1, E1, S2X (now registered as S2), S3, S5, S6, S7, S9, 233/234, and Bicester local routes 25 and 29. Will be interesting to see what the Witney routes look like after 3 years of a diverted S1 - that the registration for the E1 shuttle hasn't been cancelled and the S2X is now the S2 suggests there might be more changing than a return to the pre-2023 setup.

In conversation with an S1 driver he suggested that the E1 will run Witney - Oxford via Botley Road (like pre-2023 S1), S2 will run Carterton - Oxford via A40 bypassing Witney (as the current S2X does), S1 will remain on its current route. He didn't comment on frequencies.

 

[goldisgood]

Registrations appearing for the 30th August, where a combination of retenders and the reopening of Botley Road mean a big set of changes. Looks like the 14 has been lost to OBC, and variation applications are in for S1, E1, S2X (now registered as S2), S3, S5, S6, S7, S9, 233/234, and Bicester local routes 25 and 29. Will be interesting to see what the Witney routes look like after 3 years of a diverted S1 - that the registration for the E1 shuttle hasn't been cancelled and the S2X is now the S2 suggests there might be more changing than a return to the pre-2023 setup.

Also looks the the H5 may also be lost (or a part of wider changes to Bicester services), and that there will be S1A and S3A services as part of the changes? Certainly looks like it could be an interesting set of changes.

 

[Edvid]

Registrations appearing for the 30th August, where a combination of retenders and the reopening of Botley Road mean a big set of changes.

The Botley Road reopening has been delayed again because of an apparently leaky gas main (see post). Stagecoach Oxfordshire would have been in discussions with Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council about the likelihood of works finishing on 30/31 August as rescheduled; hard to believe they wouldn't have been informed about the gas main before submitting those particular changes to the Traffic Commissioner last Friday.

 

[Parebunks]

The Botley Road reopening has been delayed again because of an apparently leaky gas main (see post). Stagecoach Oxfordshire would have been in discussions with Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council about the likelihood of works finishing on 30/31 August as rescheduled; hard to believe they wouldn't have been informed about the gas main before submitting those particular changes to the Traffic Commissioner last Friday.

Not entirely sure Stagecoach would have been told to be honest, Network Rail have been spectacularly uncommunicative and dishonest throughout the whole process. But suspect at least some changes will have to happen anyway in line with retenders.

 

[Falcon1200]

Network Rail have been spectacularly uncommunicative and dishonest throughout the whole process.

In what ways? They can only communicate what they know, and have they told lies?

 

[Parebunks]

In what ways? They can only communicate what they know, and have they told lies?

Both this time and previously they've been claiming that the road is on track to reopen when they've known it's not - workers at the site have known about the gas leak for at least a few weeks now. Pattern has been similar with previous delays, where they've actively denied there's anything wrong when they've known otherwise. Would also say there seems to be a tendency to misrepresent how much work has been done and what the actual purpose of any work has been, at the start of the closure lowering the road was barely mentioned at all in public comms but now seems to be the only reason given.
A bit off topic for this thread though, apologies. Bringing it back to stagecoach it would seem odd to register changes contingent on the road reopening if they had even a hint it wasn't going to happen, and they have said they wouldn't change S1/E1/S2 until it was open.

 

[Falcon1200]

Both this time and previously they've been claiming that the road is on track to reopen when they've known it's not

We are indeed off topic but it does seem to me that the delays have sometimes been beyond Network Rail's control, as are the requirements and timescales for dealing with issues such as the gas leaks.

 

[goldisgood]

More details from the Oxford Mail (LINK), also confirming tender losses for the 29/H5, 25 and 14 to Risinghurst.

Key changes seem to be:
- S1/S1A to run every 15 minutes between Oxford and Witney via Botley Road, with S1 continuing to Carterton and S1A serving Downs Road Industrial Estate (alongside new school journeys to Burford)
- S2 to run every 30 minutes between Oxford and Carterton via Woodstock Road, A40 and Witney, bypassing Eynsham
- S3 adjustments TBC, with Charlbury services renumbered S3A
- S5 reverts to serving all stops within Oxford
- S6 restored to Gloucester Green
- S9 extended to the JR

The S9 change seems to be the biggest surprise here, will have to wait for the full announcement but the article seems to suggest this will replace the 14 to some extent?

 

[Parebunks]

More details from the Oxford Mail (LINK), also confirming tender losses for the 29/H5, 25 and 14 to Risinghurst.

Key changes seem to be:
- S1/S1A to run every 15 minutes between Oxford and Witney via Botley Road, with S1 continuing to Carterton and S1A serving Downs Road Industrial Estate (alongside new school journeys to Burford)
- S2 to run every 30 minutes between Oxford and Carterton via Woodstock Road, A40 and Witney, bypassing Eynsham
- S3 adjustments TBC, with Charlbury services renumbered S3A
- S5 reverts to serving all stops within Oxford
- S6 restored to Gloucester Green
- S9 extended to the JR

The S9 change seems to be the biggest surprise here, will have to wait for the full announcement but the article seems to suggest this will replace the 14 to some extent?

An interesting arrangement - not what I would have predicted, more or less looks like a return to the pre-2020 service for Witney. Surprised that no Eynsham to Woodstock road service has been kept, it's seemed decently popular.
S9 is replacing the 14 on that section, reg is cancelled and a few people have confirmed it on facebook.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

An interesting arrangement - not what I would have predicted, more or less looks like a return to the pre-2020 service for Witney. Surprised that no Eynsham to Woodstock road service has been kept, it's seemed decently popular.
S9 is replacing the 14 on that section, reg is cancelled and a few people have confirmed it on facebook.

Makes sense and presumably the S9 will drop off and pick up in George Street to and from Wantage now.

 

[LW84]

Service S3 (and S3A) have timetable changes that vary in their significance:
* vehicle reduction from 3 to 2 on Sundays as far as I can tell, also all services due to run as S3. This means the buses Oxford-bound will run near-opposite side of the hour relative to current
* tweaks to the timings and number of commuter-flow journeys (S3A) via Chadlington
* later first journey from Oxford on M-Sat on S3
* earlier last bus from C Norton via Charlbury (as S3A) to Oxford, also slightly thinned service in the Oxford direction in the evenings

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Aug 2026 ==

And finally something from Stagecoach themselves, though not the timetables just yet... changes to take effect from Sunday 20th September...

Stagecoach changes...

(Clear link - https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/oxfordshire/oxfordshire-service-changes)

A major enhancement to bus services between Oxford and West Oxfordshire is being introduced as part of a series of changes to the Oxford bus network, giving customers more frequent services, improved connectivity and better access to key destinations.

The changes follow the reopening of Botley Road and will see the introduction of the new S1A alongside an enhanced S1 service, providing up to six buses an hour between Witney and Oxford via the A40 corridor. Together, the S1 and S1A will provide a bus every 15 minutes between Oxford, Botley, Farmoor, Eynsham and Witney, with each service operating every 30 minutes.

 

[Parebunks]

The new timetables are up on bustimes.org, points I can see beyond what stagecoach have on their website and the previous post r.e. S3:
- A bit confused on where the S1/S1A finish in Oxford - S1 shown as down George Street as pre-Botley closure, S1A seems to run fast along Hythe Bridge and Beaumont to Magdalen Street. Can anyone make sense of this?
- The S2 will use all the same stops as the current S1, but start inside the station forecourt using the current 14 stop.
- S2 will use the direct Tube/H2 route between Witney and Carterton.
- Evening service on the S2 will be limited to a handful of trips after 8pm and finish before midnight.
- No Sunday service on S1A or S2, S1 will run every 20 minutes.
- Significant reductions to the NS1 night service, going from 6 Fri/Sat trips after 1am to just 3.
- S9 is mostly every 30 minutes all day JR-Wantage.

 

[LW84]

All timetables have also now been uploaded by Stagecoach to their website.

Oxfordshire Service Updates (2nd item then click through and scroll down as of time of this post)

Just to add to the above (and not particularly well signposted by Stagecoach), their S7 route has indeed got a revised timetable (same change date as the others)... Saturday departures retimed throughout, and adjustments to the council-tendered aspects Mon-Sat evenings.

Unsure on the S1A terminating loop in Oxford myself.