Buses linking Oxford and Banbury are to become the latest to be upgraded to join Stagecoach’s network of high-quality county routes.
The changes will start to come into effect on Sunday (September 4) when new timetables are launched around Banbury.
New buses will be delivered for the Banbury-Oxford and Banbury-Brackley routes later this year.
From Sunday, the 59/59A/59B services between Oxford and Banbury are to be renumbered as S4, joining the group of S-series services linking the city with the west and north of the county – as previously featured in CBW.
The existing timetable will remain in force with some minor changes.
Chris Child, marketing manger for Stagecoach Oxfordshire, said: “S-series was launched in 2009 when routes to Bicester, Witney, Carterton, Chipping Norton and Charlbury were upgraded.
“It’s about highlighting how easy it is to get around by bus. They include CCTV for added security and peace of mind, and will be added to the Oxford real-time information system, so you can text and find out when the bus is due.”
Stagecoach will also take over long-term operation of the Banbury-Woodford Halse-Daventry service, which it stepped in to run at short notice after former operator Geoff Amos Coaches went out of business in early August. The existing GA01 service will be replaced by route 200.
Other changes from September 4 will see the B1 and B2 routes in Banbury retimed to improve reliability at busy periods on weekdays and buses on route B8 retimed to leave stops in Sinclair Avenue and Austin Drive two minutes earlier than they do now, with the first Sunday service running at 0900hrs instead of 0930.
After consultation with passengers, the 500 service between Banbury and Brackley will enjoy extra services from Mondays to Saturdays, running every 20 minutes instead of half-hourly
The new buses for the S4 and 500 will be ADL Enviro 200s, replacing Pointer Darts which will be cascaded onto town routes to oust the firm’s remaining Volvo B6BLEs.
