Following a detailed network review, Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel have announced several service changes to Oxford city’s bus services that will take effect from 08 January 2023.
In a message, the company points to “significant delays to many services currently being experienced in East Oxford, particularly in the Plain Roundabout area” as the main reason behind the timetable changes that will be made to bus services 3, 3A, 5, 5A, 8, 11, 15, 400, X3 and X32 in from 08 January 2023 to improve punctuality and reliability.
Similar changes will also be made to services X39 and X40, with these routes being transferred back from Oxford Bus Company to Thames Travel as part of this change.
As a result of the spike in traffic congestion and significant increases in bus journey times in East Oxford in recent months, additional vehicle resources will be invested into services X3 and 400 to further improve reliability and service resilience.
Luke Marion, Interim Managing Director at Oxford Bus Company, said: “As a bus operator, reducing services is very much a last resort, however with the challenges the network is currently facing in East Oxford, we have no choice but to make these timetable changes.
“We understand the changes will cause concern for some residents, and we’d like to reassure them there are some alternative travel options already in place. We have worked closely with Oxfordshire County Council to seek positive solutions and are pleased that the council is running a tender to procure a replacement service.
“The status quo is not sustainable, and we cannot continue to be in a situation where we are forced to run services with significant delays, or to cancel or curtail journeys on a daily basis due to congestion, as this is causing inconvenience for our customers and is also impacting on the work/life balance of our colleagues.
“Therefore, we have had to review our services and establish a way to better balance our resources to provide the best possible service overall.
“The service changes will help us further stabilise our network in what continues to be a challenging time for our industry. It also helps us to secure the future of many important routes that operate via the Plain roundabout and other areas of East Oxford.”
Jump to a bus service to find out more about the changes to expected to the bus service from 08 January 2023.
- city3 & 3A Oxford City Centre- Iffley Road – Rose Hill – Littlemore – Greater Leys – Templars Square
- city3B Rose Hill – Iffley Road – Matthew Arnold School
- city4A Oxford City Centre – Botley Road – Elms Rise
- city5 Oxford Rail Station – Oxford City Centre – Cowley Road – Templars Square – Blackbird Leys
- city5A Oxford City Centre – Cowley Road – Templars Square – Minchery Farm
- city8 Oxford City Centre – Brookes University – Headington – Barton
- city9 Oxford City Centre – Brookes University – Headington – Risinghurst
- city11 Oxford – Garsington – Stadhampton – Chalgrove – Watlington
- city13 Abingdon – Radley – Kennington – Oxford – Marston Road – Northway
- city15 Oxford City Centre – Morrell Avenue – Churchill Hospital – Wood Farm
- city46 Oxford – Florence Park – Templars Square – Horspath – Wheatley – Great Milton
- city34 Oxford – Abingdon – Harwell Campus – Wantage
- cityX1 & NX1 Oxford – Abingdon – Marcham – Grove – Wantage
- cityX3 Abingdon – Oxford – Marston Road – JR Hospital – Barton Park – Barton
- River Rapids X39, X40 & NX40 Oxford – Iffley Road – Berinsfield – Wallingford – Reading
- Park&Ride400/BROOKESbusU1 & BROOKESbusNU1 Harcourt Hill – Seacourt – Oxford City Centre – Brookes Uni – Headington – Thornhill – Wheatley
- connector 23 Didcot – Wallingford – Henley
- connector 33 Oxford – Cumnor – Wootton – Abingdon – Sutton Courtenay – Didcot
- Thames Travel 63 Oxford – Cumnor – Appleton – Southmoor – Longworth
- connector 90 Didcot Orchard Centre – Didcot Tesco
- Thames Travel 92 Didcot Town Service
- Science Transit Shuttle ST2 Wytham – Botley Road – Oxford – Headington – JR Hospital
- connector X32 JR Hospital – Oxford – Didcot – Harwell Campus – Wantage
city3 & 3A Oxford City Centre- Iffley Road – Rose Hill – Littlemore – Greater Leys – Templars Square
Oxford Bus Company will be making some amendments to the timetable of these services to improve reliability and provide better coordination with the River Rapids X39 and X40 services. Some early morning city3 journeys will now run as River Rapids X40 services from Rose Hill Parade to Oxford City Centre. The Sunday service will be revised to provide a combined service up to every 12 minutes along Iffley Road.
city3B Rose Hill – Iffley Road – Matthew Arnold School
Due to the closure of the Botley Road bridge, the city3B service will not run through the City Centre in the same way as at present. The morning trip from Rose Hill will operate along the current route up to the High Street, then via Abingdon Road and the Southern Bypass to Elms Rise, and then onwards to Matthew Arnold School. The afternoon journey will operate along the current route to Elms Parade Shops before travelling via the Southern Bypass and Abingdon Road to St Aldates, where it will resume the present route to Rose Hill.
city4A Oxford City Centre – Botley Road – Elms Rise
Due to the closure of the Botley Road bridge, the city4A service into the City Centre will not run the same way as at present. Details are still being worked on with Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council. However, it is anticipated that services towards Oxford City Centre will terminate on the west side of Oxford Rail Station.
city5 Oxford Rail Station – Oxford City Centre – Cowley Road – Templars Square – Blackbird Leys
Due to the significant delays in East Oxford, there will be some amendments to the city5 timetable during weekday peak times to offer a more reliable service. As the time taken for buses to complete their trip is now longer, the frequency of the service will be slightly reduced in these periods. There will continue to be a coordinated service along this corridor with Stagecoach, with their service 1 timetable also revised from this date. There will be no change to the Saturday and Sunday timetables.
city5A Oxford City Centre – Cowley Road – Templars Square – Minchery Farm
Due to the significant delays in East Oxford, some amendments will be made to the city5A timetable on weekday afternoons to offer a more reliable service. The frequency of the service will be reduced to up to every 40 minutes as the time taken for buses to complete their trip is now longer. There will be no change to the Saturday and Sunday timetables.
city8 Oxford City Centre – Brookes University – Headington – Barton
Due to the significant delays in East Oxford, there will be some amendments to the city8 timetable during weekday peak times to offer a more reliable service. As the time taken for buses to complete their trip is now longer, the frequency of the service will be slightly reduced in these periods. There will continue to be a coordinated service along this corridor with Stagecoach, with their service 8 timetable also revised from this date. There will be no change to the Saturday and Sunday timetables.
city9 Oxford City Centre – Brookes University – Headington – Risinghurst
Due to the significant delays in East Oxford, the timetable currently operating can no longer be achieved without considerable extra resources being invested. Unfortunately, the usage levels cannot justify this additional investment. Therefore, the city9 service will regrettably be withdrawn after 07 January 2023. Whilst it is appreciated that this news will be of concern, Oxfordshire County Council has commenced a tender process to secure a replacement service and will announce further details as soon as possible.
city11 Oxford – Garsington – Stadhampton – Chalgrove – Watlington
Due to the delays in East Oxford, there will be a need to make minor amendments to the city11 timetable during the weekday peak periods to offer a more reliable service. As a result, there are minor changes to the timetable to reflect this.
city13 Abingdon – Radley – Kennington – Oxford – Marston Road – Northway
Due to the significant delays in East Oxford, the timetable currently operating can no longer be achieved without considerable extra resources being invested. Unfortunately, the usage levels between Oxford City Centre and Northway cannot justify this additional investment. Therefore city13 will regrettably be withdrawn between Oxford City Centre and Northway after 07 January 2023. Whilst it is appreciated that this news will be of concern, Oxfordshire County Council has commenced a tender process to secure a replacement service for Northway and will announce further details as soon as possible.
The section of city13 between Oxford City Centre and Abingdon will continue to operate at similar times to now as the city35, with the direct Monday to Saturday daytime connection to the Westgate restored. The evening and Sunday service will continue to operate to the current route and times, but it will also be renumbered to city35.
city15 Oxford City Centre – Morrell Avenue – Churchill Hospital – Wood Farm
To better align the service on offer with the demand, the city15 service will be revised to operate up to every 15 minutes during weekday daytimes. Additionally, due to the significant delays in East Oxford, there is a need to better reflect the time the buses take to complete their journeys to provide a more reliable service. As the time taken for buses to complete their trip is now longer, the frequency of the service will be reduced in this period. There will be no change to the timetable on Saturdays and Sundays.
city46 Oxford – Florence Park – Templars Square – Horspath – Wheatley – Great Milton
Oxford Bus Company has gathered data on the traffic levels at different times of the day since it began operating the city46 to Great Milton in June 2022. As a result, there will be minor amendments to the timetable to provide a more punctual service.
city34 Oxford – Abingdon – Harwell Campus – Wantage
cityX1 & NX1 Oxford – Abingdon – Marcham – Grove – Wantage
There will be minor changes to the timetable to improve reliability, most notably at peak times. The late evening and night service will be revised to better reflect demand. In Oxford City Centre, cityX1 services will be extended to run along the High Street, to and from Queens Lane.
cityX3 Abingdon – Oxford – Marston Road – JR Hospital – Barton Park – Barton
Due to the significant delays in East Oxford, there will be amendments to the cityX3 timetable during weekday peak times to offer a more reliable service. Additional resources will be invested into the service to maintain the same frequencies as now, but some journeys will be timetabled to provide extra time for buses to complete their trips. For a more punctual service, the evening and Sunday services will no longer run via Northway. Oxfordshire County Council has commenced a tender process to secure a replacement and will announce further details as soon as possible.
River Rapids X39, X40 & NX40 Oxford – Iffley Road – Berinsfield – Wallingford – Reading
From 08 January, these services will once again be operated by Thames Travel, and they will be making minor amendments to the timetable to improve the reliability of these services. This service will now run at a more regular frequency between Oxford City Centre and Berinsfield only to better meet the demand for the NX40 service more closely. This means there will be improvements to the night bus offering along Iffley Road, Littlemore, Sandford, Nuneham Courtenay and Berinsfield.
Park&Ride400/BROOKESbusU1 & BROOKESbusNU1 Harcourt Hill – Seacourt – Oxford City Centre – Brookes Uni – Headington – Thornhill – Wheatley
Due to the closure of the Botley Road bridge and the significant delays in East Oxford, there will be a need to run a revised route and timetable on the Park&Ride400/BROOKESbusU1 service. The service will be split into two, with frequencies similar to the current timetable, so changes to the bus services from January 2023 will be as follow
The eastern part of the service will run along the current route between Wheatley Campus and Oxford City Centre before terminating at Oxford Rail Station forecourt in both directions. For the western part of the service, there are continued discussions with Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council, but it is anticipated that the service will run between Harcourt Hill Campus and terminate on the west side of Oxford Rail Station in both directions.
Whilst the Semester timetable is in operation, the NU1 will operate on Friday and Saturday nights every 30 minutes between Wheatley Campus and Speedwell Street in Oxford City Centre and every 30 minutes between Harcourt Hill and Oxford Rail Station. This maintains the same frequency of service at both ends of the route.
Additionally, there will be changes to the following Thames Travel services from 08 January 2023:
connector 23 Didcot – Wallingford – Henley
connector 33 Oxford – Cumnor – Wootton – Abingdon – Sutton Courtenay – Didcot
Due to the closure of the Botley Road bridge, the 33 service into the City Centre will not be able to run in the same way as at present. Details are still being worked on with Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council. However, it is anticipated that services towards Oxford City Centre will terminate on the west side of Oxford Rail Station.
The Sunday service on connector 23A will be replaced by a revised connector 33 service running between Oxford, Abingdon, Didcot and Wallingford, and a connector 23 service running between Wallingford and Henley.
Thames Travel 63 Oxford – Cumnor – Appleton – Southmoor – Longworth
Due to the closure of Botley Road bridge in Oxford, the 63 service into the City Centre will not be able to run in the same way as at present. Details are still being worked on with Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council. However, it is anticipated that services towards Oxford City Centre will terminate on the west side of Oxford Rail Station.
connector 90 Didcot Orchard Centre – Didcot Tesco
Due to low demand, the connector 90 service will be withdrawn. Customers wishing to travel from Didcot Parkway or Broadway to Tesco can use connector 23 and 33 services which run up to every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday daytime and hourly on Sundays.
Thames Travel 92 Didcot Town Service
The 1445 service from Didcot Parkway will now operate 15 minutes later throughout. There will be no other changes to the timetable of this service.
Science Transit Shuttle ST2 Wytham – Botley Road – Oxford – Headington – JR Hospital
Due to the closure of the Botley Road bridge and significant delays in East Oxford, there will be a revised route and timetable on the ST2 service. Changes to the bus services in January 2023 will be as follow:
For journeys towards Wytham, buses will run along the current routeing between the JR Hospital and University Science Area. After serving the Keble Road stop on St Giles, the ST2 will serve Magdalen Street in the City Centre, then run along Woodstock Road until Wolvercote Roundabout before running along Godstow Road into Wytham Village, where buses will continue to the JK Field Station at present.
For journeys towards the JR Hospital, buses will serve Wytham Village before running along Godstow Road, Mere Road and First Turn in Wolvercote, before running along Woodstock Road to Magdalen Street in the City Centre. Buses will then run to the Keble Road stop on St Giles before resuming the current ST2 route towards the JR.
To mitigate the late running currently being experienced in the afternoon and evening peak, some extra time has been added to journeys between the JR Hospital and University Science Area during this period to offer a more reliable service.
connector X32 JR Hospital – Oxford – Didcot – Harwell Campus – Wantage
Due to the delays in East Oxford, there will be minor amendments to the connector X32 timetable on weekday afternoons to offer a more reliable service.
