Stagecoach in Oxfordshire

### Destinations

Banbury, Bicester, Brackley, Carterton, Chipping Norton, London, Oxford, Wantage, Witney

### Website

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/

**Stagecoach in Oxfordshire** is the trading name of Thames Transit Ltd. It's a bus operator serving the county of Oxfordshire, England. It's a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group.

## History

During the year 1987, a man called Harry Blundred, a former controller and bus driver from Devon, England, founded both the Oxford Tube and Thames Transit. A decade later, Stagecoach Group purchased both services from Blundred. Stagecoach Group then merged the Oxford Tube and Thames Transit Ltd. with their own Stagecoach Midland Red to create Stagecoach South Midlands.

During it's time Stagecoach South Midlands operated four brands:

* Stagecoach in Warwickshire for local buses in Warwickshire
* Stagecoach in Banbury for local buses in and around Banbury
* Oxford Tube for express buses between Oxford and London Victoria.
* Stagecoach in Oxford for local buses in and around Oxford.

Stagecoach Group decided, in July 2002, to unite the Banbury and Oxford brands to form 'Stagecoach in Oxfordshire'. Two years later, in March 2004, Stagecoach in Oxfordshire and Stagecoach in Warwickshire were split into two separate divisions with those names.

In 2010, Stagecoach in Oxfordshire and Oxford Bus Company announced that they were in consultation with Oxfordshire County Council to consider a Bus Quality Partnership, as enabled by the Local Transport Act 2008. Once approved the partnership would enhance multi-operator ticketing around the city and coordinate bus timetables on the four busiest shared routes.

On 15 July 2010, Stagecoach in Oxfordshire received a fleet of twenty-six Alexander Dennis Enviro400H diesel-electric hybrid buses on Oxford – Cowley – Blackbird Leys route 1 and Oxford – Kidlington routes 7A/7B (now 2/2A/2B/2C/2D). Double deckers were selected over single deckers as an aftereffect of the co-ordinated timetables and diminished frequencies to be introduced under the quality partnership. As newer buses joined the Oxfordshire fleet, the Enviro400H hybrids were reassigned originally to Oxford – Rose Hill route 3, then to Kidlington – Headington route 700 and currently to Oxford – Cowley – Headington route 10.

In October 2016, Stagecoach declared publicly the addition of new electronic ticket machines to permit passengers to pay by contactless payment or by smartphone (NFC) using Apple Pay or Google Pay. Stagecoach in Oxfordshire was the first Stagecoach division to obtain these new machines for both local services and the Oxford Tube, making Stagecoach in Oxfordshire the first large-scale operator to welcome contactless payments further afield than London.

## Depots

* Banbury, Canal Street
* Oxford, Horspath Road
* Witney, Corn Street

## Outstations

* Bicester
* Chipping Norton
* Grove

Witney depot occasionally utilizes Chipping Norton Outstation. Grove Outstation houses the Wantage Fleet. Stagecoach has, in the past, had an Outstation at Harwell and Wantage. The old Harwell and Wantage Outstation housed the Wantage Fleet and the original Wantage Outstation also housed the Didcot Fleet but Stagecoach hasn't operated in Didcot since the 'Great Bus War'.