Stagecoach West is to expand the reach of its long-established Oxford Tube coach service west from the university city to Carterton via four weekday morning journeys, and introduce an hourly call at High Wycombe Coachway, as part of a package of improvements.
The changes will be made on 23 October. They are based on the Oxford Tube being a “rip roaring success” that includes very strong weekend demand for the express coach route, says Stagecoach.
Also part of the improvements are frequency increases to give departures up to every eight minutes on Saturdays, up to every 10 minutes Monday to Friday, and up to every 20 minutes later at night. Additional coaches will help to deliver the uplifts. Current schedules show peak headways of broadly 15 minutes Monday to Friday and 10 minutes on Saturdays.
Carterton starters will not serve Oxford city centre but call at Witney and Eynsham before progressing to the existing Thornhill park-and-ride stop and thence to London. Stagecoach says that introduction of a High Wycombe stop, adjacent to junction 4 of the M40 motorway, will enable further park-and-ride connections.
Speaking about the changes, Stagecoach West Managing Director Rachel Geliamassi says: “We are delighted to be expanding the reach of our ever-popular Oxford Tube service to West Oxfordshire and High Wycombe, meaning that even more passengers can travel into London easily, comfortably, sustainably, and at a great price.
“High Wycombe is a brand new catchment area for us, so we look forward to welcoming some new faces on board, while our new stops in West Oxfordshire make daily commutes simpler for those currently having to make their way into the centre of Oxford to pick up the service. They can now start their journeys much closer to home.”
