Both Oxford operators rebuild their networks the day Botley Road reopens: the X1 is withdrawn, 44, 63 and 400 return to the centre, 4A becomes a cross-city 4.

Oxford’s two big bus operators are both changing their networks on Sunday 20 September, the day Botley Road reopens. Between them, Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach are withdrawing one route, renumbering three, extending four and putting three back through the city centre for the first time since April 2023.

If you catch a bus in Oxford, there is a good chance your route number, your stop or your timetable is different that morning. Neither operator is running the changes as a trial. They start with the new timetables and stay.

What Oxford Bus Company is doing

The full list is on the operator’s own service changes page, published on 24 August. The changes that matter inside the city:

  • Service 4A becomes service 4, and instead of stopping in the centre it carries on through to the John Radcliffe and Risinghurst. Up to every 30 minutes, seven days a week, from Elms Rise to Risinghurst. Late evening journeys still turn at the city centre.
  • Service 4B becomes service 200, extended from Harcourt Hill into the centre to terminate at Magdalen Street, up to every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday.
  • Services 44, 63 and 63S return to the city centre, calling at Police Station, Speedwell Street, Westgate and Frideswide Square. The 44 also transfers from Thames Travel to Oxford Bus Company.
  • Service 400 runs to Seacourt park and ride again, serving all the Botley Road stops. In the centre it calls at Frideswide Square rather than the railway station.
  • Service 6 is extended to Abingdon via Kennington and Radley, replacing service 35, up to every 20 minutes Monday to Saturday.
  • The X1 is withdrawn. An enhanced X15 and an extended X35 replace it. The X15 will run up to every 30 minutes between Oxford, Abingdon, Marcham and Southmoor, but it will no longer serve the railway station, terminating at Westgate instead.
  • Service 600 changes stops, calling at railway station stop R3 instead of Frideswide Square, and at the JR main entrance J4 rather than J3.
  • Service 15 takes a wider route in Wood Farm, with new stops on Masons Road and Titup Hall Drive.
  • Service 5A gets a half-hourly Saturday evening and Sunday service.

Several of these are paid for by Oxfordshire County Council rather than run commercially, including the extended 4, the 200, the extra late journeys on the 11 and the improved 5A.

What Stagecoach is doing

Stagecoach has set out its side on its own Oxfordshire service changes page. The page does not print a start date, but every timetable it links to is headed “valid from 20th September 2026”, including the S9.

  • A new S1A joins the S1 on the A40, giving six buses an hour between Witney and Oxford. The two together mean a bus every 15 minutes through Botley, Farmoor and Eynsham.
  • The S9 gets a new direct link to the John Radcliffe from Wantage, Cumnor and Botley. Its timetable runs from the JR through Northway, Marston village, Lathbury Road, George Street and Frideswide Square before heading out to Botley and Cumnor.
  • The S6 is extended to Gloucester Green bus station.
  • The E1 and the 14 are absorbed into other routes. Stagecoach says the Oxford station, Banbury Road, Old Marston, Northway and JR connections carry on through the S9, and that Risinghurst passes to Oxford Bus Company under a separate tender. That is the new service 4.
  • The S5 returns to serving every stop on Banbury Road after a trial of limited stopping.
  • The S2 runs every 30 minutes between Carterton, Witney and Oxford, but it stops serving Eynsham village, which is left to the S1 and S1A.
  • Services 29 and H5 transfer to another operator. Oxford Bus Company’s new services 25 and 25A take over, in partnership with the county council. The 25 runs hourly from Upper Heyford to the JR via Heyford Park, Middleton Stoney, Chesterton, Bicester, Ambrosden and Islip, replacing the H5. The 25A runs hourly from Upper Heyford to Upper Arncott, replacing the 29. Sundays stay with Stagecoach.
Table of Oxford bus route number changes on 20 September 2026: 4A becomes 4, 4B becomes 200, 35 is replaced by an extended 6, the X1 is withdrawn in favour of the X15 and X35, E1 and 14 are absorbed into the S9, and H5 and 29 become 25 and 25A. Services 44, 63, 63S and 400 return through the city centre.
Four numbers change, one disappears, and four routes come back through the middle of the city.

What it means for you

The single most useful thing to know is that a route number is no longer a reliable way to find your bus. Four numbers change while the road stays the same, and one number disappears entirely. If you have a printed timetable or a saved journey in an app, it is out of date from Sunday 20 September.

Three groups should look at this properly before the day:

  • Botley, Cumnor, Elms Rise and Harcourt Hill. You get the biggest gain. The 4, 200, 44, 63 and 400 all reach the city centre again rather than stopping short of the bridge, and the S9 gives a direct hospital run.
  • Anyone catching a bus at Oxford railway station. Two services move away from it. The X15 terminates at Westgate, and the 400 uses Frideswide Square. Going the other way, the 600 moves to the station’s R3 stop.
  • Eynsham. The S2 stops serving the village. The S1 and S1A are the replacement, and between them they are more frequent, but it is a change of route rather than a straight upgrade.

There is a second change a week later. On Monday 28 September the congestion charge is replaced by six traffic filters, which is a car measure rather than a bus one, but it is the reason several of these timetables have been rewritten for faster journey times. We have set out which permits expire that day, and the whole autumn picture is on our Oxford roadworks and travel page.

The £3 single fare cap and the countywide multi-operator tickets are unchanged by any of this.

Why it is all happening at once

Botley Road has been shut to motor traffic at the railway bridge since 11 April 2023, while Network Rail replaced the bridge as part of a £161m expansion of Oxford station. Buses from the west could reach Botley Road but could not get under the bridge, so the 4A, 4B, 44, 63 and 63S have spent more than three years terminating on the wrong side of it.

Network Rail confirmed the 20 September reopening on 29 July, after the road slipped from the end of August. Three minor gas leaks were found in SGN’s network during drainage excavation, and rather than dig the road up again later, Network Rail let SGN replace a section of the gas main alongside the remaining construction.

One caution. The county council’s own Botley Road scheme page still says the road reopens in August 2026 and still carries travel advice written for October 2024. It has not been updated. The date being maintained, and the one both bus operators have built their timetables around, is Sunday 20 September.

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