X9 (Witney - Chipping Norton)

X9
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Pulhams Branded Optare Solo at Witney Market Square running the X9 in July 2016.

## Route

### Via

Kingham (x2 Mon-Fri)
Churchill (x2 Mon-Fri)
Chadlington
Spelsbury
Charlbury
Finstock
Hailey

## History

Before being numbered 'X9', route X9 operated as route '69'. The service was renumbered when RH Transport were given the subsidy contract to run the service after bidding lowest once the service went up to tender from Worth’s Coaches.

In October 2012 RH Transport went into administration and lost all its services. Oxfordshire County Council had to scramble together replacement services within 24 hours of the routes stopping, and luckily Stagecoach stepped in to fill most of the gaps offering free services on some routes on Fri 5ᵗʰ Oct, Sat 6ᵗʰ Oct, and Mon 8ᵗʰ Oct 2012. Stagecoach would now run service X9 until the bus contracts went up for tender again in 2014 when Pulhams would bid slightly lower and win the contract until further notice. Pulhams started operating in June of 2014 and have continued running the service since, even after Oxfordshire County Council stopped bus subsidies on Fri 22ⁿᵈ Jul 2016.

When Pulhams was awarded the contract to operate service X9 they dropped Friday and Saturday late evening buses which Stagecoach ran during their time as the service operator. This included the 19:12 & 22:12 from Chipping Norton and the 20:20 & 23:20 from Witney.

Pulhams changed their X9 timetable on Wednesday 27th, December 2017 and dropped the two remaining services (1 each way) which went through Ramsden, they now go straight to Hailey from Finstock and vice versa. At the same time, Pulhams extended the route on weekdays to serve Churchill and Kingham but did not terminate until the journey returned to Chipping Norton. Note service X9 only went to and from Churchill and Kingham twice a day, around midday. These 2 journeys were withdrawn at the end of August 2020 when service X8 (Chipping Norton - Churchill - Kingham - Kingham Rail Station) was reintroduced as a peak commuter service making the extended journeys on service X9 surplus and as such they were dropped with the route truncated at Chipping Norton.

## Route

Route X9 operates between Chipping Norton and Witney. The route starts in Chipping Norton, West Street and leaves town passing Chipping Norton School on the A361 (Burford Road). Once it passes The Beeches it turns up the Chipping Norton Road towards Chadlington. When in Chadlington it travels to Chapel Road stopping several times on the way. It now follows the same road (name changes to Chadlington Road) until Spelsbury where it stops twice. Exiting Spelsbury it uses the Charlbury Road heading south. It'll now travel to Charlbury not stopping along the way.

Once in Charlbury the bus stops at Nine Acres, Cross Roads, Church Street, Wychwood Close, Sturt Close, and Fiveways. Note that only buses heading to Chipping Norton serve Sturt Close and Wychwood Close as they do the "Charlbury Loop". The bus now leaves for Witney along the B4022. The bus will next stop at Finstock Station and then Finstock. It'll go along School Road, Well Hill, and exit via High Street rejoining the B4022 (Witney Road).

During weekdays some buses will turn down High Street (Ramsden) and serve the Royal Oak before leaving via Akeman Street and once again rejoining the B4022 (Witney Road). Most will only stop at the junction and continue on the main road. Now the bus will travel through White Oak Green towards Hailey. In Hailey the bus will stop several times on the main road before leaving for Witney half a mile away. It now follows the B4022 (Hailey Road) until it reaches a double mini roundabout and continues down the A4095 towards High Street. The bus will now stay on High Street until it becomes Market Square. After stopping here it'll turn down Langdale Lane to a roundabout where it travels down Witan Way to another roundabout where it turns off toward Sainsbury's. The bus terminates here.

Monday to Friday, twice both ways each day, a bus will continue to Kingham, passing Churchill, and back to Chipping Norton West Street were it will terminate.

Pulhams Coaches offers two dedicated school buses from Charlbury to Chipping Norton. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. These buses do not serve Chadlington and go directly to Spelsbury, but are still classed as public buses, so anyone who isn't a student can also take these buses with limited capacity. Note these buses only run during a school term and not during any holidays.

 Witney (most journeys extend to Sainsbury's)

## Service

Services run during the day, Monday to Friday every thirty minutes to two hours, with one service terminating in Chipping Norton and the other terminating in Witney.

Services run during the day Saturday every two to three hours using only one bus.

No Sunday service.

## Timetable

**This Feature is Work In Progress Please Check Back Soon.**
## Trivia

* Service X9 was numbered service 69 until 2008 when subsidies and contracts for the route transferred from Worths Coaches to RH Transport Services. Worths Coaches kept running service 69 for a few months after subsidies were withdrawn. Most journeys went between Charlbury, Finstock, Ramsden, Hailey and Witney. Only a few journeys operated by Worths Coaches went beyond Charlbury towards Chipping Norton serving Spelsbury and Chadlington.