New cross-city services to accompany reopening of Botley Road

Go Thames Valley is introducing cross-city services to coincide with the reopening of Botley Road from Sunday 20th September.

The region’s largest bus operator, overseeing Oxford Bus Company, Thames Travel, Carousel Buses and Pulhams, will be introducing new timetables and routes as a result of the reopening of Botley Road and winning new and existing contracts with Oxfordshire County Council.

A new 4 service will replace some links in East Oxford currently provided by Stagecoach service 14 and combine with Oxford Bus Company’s existing 4A route, to operate every 30 minutes, seven days a week, between Risinghurst, Headington, the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford city centre and Elms Rise.

Oxford Bus Company’s 400 service will be reintroduced to Seacourt Park & Ride, providing a frequency of up to every 10 minutes with a new timetable for the full route, while operations for the 4B and 600 have been retained. The 4B will be renumbered service 200 and extend into Oxford following the reopening of Botley Road.

The 44 and 63/63S services will once again serve the city centre, calling at Speedwell Street, the Westgate and Frideswide Square, while the 6 and 35 routes will be combined into a new cross-city 6 service operating between Abingdon, Radley, Kennington, Oxford city centre and Wolvercote up to every 20 minutes Monday to Saturday and half-hourly during the evenings and on Sundays.

With support from Oxfordshire County Council, there will be a doubling of the frequency for the 5A on Sundays, and a new Friday and Saturday late evening journey introduced on the 11 between Oxford city centre and Watlington.

To improve connections in Wood Farm, Oxford Bus Company’s 15 service will complete a wider loop of the area serving additional stops along Masons Road and Titup Hall Drive.

Luke Marion, Managing Director of Go Thames Valley, said: “We’re looking forward to finally being in a position to revamp our services in the Botley Road area.

“Following a successful tender process, we have expanded our network and worked closely with Oxfordshire County Council to deliver various improvements for Botley residents and the wider community.”

Councillor Gareth Epps, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “The reopening of the Botley Road will make bus travel much more attractive for more people once again.

“We are working with bus companies to improve and secure bus services, focusing the areas where they are needed. I’d like to thank residents and businesses again for their patience

during the disruption, and hope people will make good use of these new and improved links to access Botley Road.”

In addition to the above improvements, the X15 service will increase in frequency to every 30 minutes between Oxford, Abingdon, Marcham and Southmoor, with buses continuing to Standlake, Ducklington and Witney hourly, replacing the X1 between Oxford and Marcham.

Thames Travel’s X35 will be extended beyond Grove to East Hanney and Abingdon, operating up to every 30 minutes on weekdays, while new timetables will be introduced to Milton Park services X2, X32 and X36 to improve punctuality.

With support from West Berkshire Council, on Sundays the X34 will operate as service 34, extending from Great Western Park to Newbury via Chilton and the Ilsleys up to every two hours.

For a full list of the timetable changes, please visit www.oxfordbus.co.uk/service-changes-20th-september-2026