About Stagecoach in Oxfordshire

Key Facts May 2019 – April 2020

• 10.1 million miles operated
• 17.4 million passengers carried
• 551 employees 
• 168 buses and coaches
• 98.5% reliability
• 95% customer satisfaction
• 75.9% punctuality

Our people

It’s our people who make our service special. They do more than make the wheels go round; they are the very spirit of Stagecoach. From bus and coach drivers, to engineers, cleaners and customer service staff, there are over 550 of us working together to help Stagecoach reach our goal of becoming the UK’s favourite and most successful public transport company.  

• 450 drivers 
• 65 maintenance staff 
• 36 administrative staff, managers and supervisors 

But it doesn’t stop there. We also support around 10,000 jobs nationally through our supply chain. That’s a lot of people and creating an inclusive workforce is a responsibility that we take seriously. For instance, we’re proud to say that the number of female bus drivers continues to grow each year and we celebrate diversity across the whole business. 

The future of Stagecoach relies on supporting our country’s young people. We’ve been at the forefront of championing apprentices in our workforce for years. Right now there are over 800 apprentices across our business in England, Scotland and Wales. Our apprenticeship scheme is award-winning and can help deliver the skills needed to support the new technologies and fleets of the future.  

Our services

Our mission for every journey is simple: get everyone safely where they need to be, every day. 

If you’ve got a journey to take, we’ve got a service to help you make it. Our local buses are ideal for daily travel either for leisure or work. Even if you work a little further from home, our interurban services will help you get there.

We have routes all over the county from Banbury, Bicester, and Witney to Wantage and Abingdon. 

Our buses also go as far as Brackley and the popular Oxford Tube coach service takes people to London 365 days a year.

Last year our buses travelled over 10.1 million miles.

We continue to seek ways to improve our services so that they provide what our customers are looking for and we work in partnership with  the local authority, Oxfordshire County Council on all bus matters.  

We constantly review our safety procedures and, as we’re all too aware since the unscheduled arrival of Coronavirus, we’re placing even more emphasis on cleaning. We already had a great cleaning schedule in place but we’ve taken it to the next level, focusing on the areas of the bus in which you’re most likely to come into contact. 

We’re constantly working hard to increase the quality, reliability and frequency of our bus services to offer car users a realistic transport alternative. Not only will this help with the usual congestion and car parking hassles, but it’ll also help the environment by taking more cars off the road.

Our fares

We have a range of value for money tickets available.  You can select the best options for the journeys you want to make based on where and when you want to travel.

In 2012, we also joined the Oxford SmartZone  system. In Oxford you can purchase one ticket and take any Stagecoach, Oxford Bus Company or Thames Travel bus across the SmartZone city network. 

We also have a range of special tickets for students, young people  and jobseekers. 

Our buses

We run a fleet of 168 buses and coaches.

We have a mixture of buses from smaller single deck buses to larger double deck coaches and provide free Wi-Fi for all passengers.

In October 2019 we invested £5 million in 21 MMC E400 double deck buses for our Witney fleet. The Fleet introduced new onboard customer facilities including USB charging points, LED reading lights and audio and visual next stop bus announcements. The new investment replaced Witney's gold fleet which was introduced in 2009 onto the S1 and S2 linking West Oxfordshire to the City Centre.

With a fleet of 7,200 buses and coaches serving more than 100 towns and cities nationally, you can see why we’re one of the biggest public transport companies in the UK. But did you know that we also have one of the most modern fleets in the UK?

We’re constantly investing in newer, greener buses and, over the past eight years, we’ve spent £630 million on regional buses. 

Our environment

It’s never been more important to do the right thing when it comes to our environment. That’s why we continue to tackle climate change and boost air quality with each new vehicle that enters our fleet. In 2020 we took delivery of one of Europe’s biggest orders of electric buses, which sparked much excitement. All Stagecoach in Oxfordshire buses and Oxford Tube coaches now run on B30 fuel - a fuel blend consisting of 30 per cent biofuel and 70 per cent standard diesel, cutting emissions by up to 22%. 

By the end of 2019/20, 76% of Stagecoach departures from Oxford City Centre were operated with buses fitted with Euro 6 engines.

Our Oxford city centre bus fleet is fully compliant with the requirements of the Oxford Low Emission Zone which was introduced in January 2014. 

Stagecoach was awarded the Christopher Ball Memorial Award for best performing company in Stagecoach UK Bus for our employees’ consistently strong eco-driving performance for the sixth year running.

In partnership with Oxfordshire County Council and other bus operators in Oxfordshire we submitted a joint bid to the DfT for their Electric Bus Town fund ‘Expression of Interest’. We continue to campaign that bus travel is a major part of the solution to congestion and pollution. In ‘normal’ circumstances a bus can carry around 70 car drivers and the average large family car is around 4.8 metres long. This means one bus can save more than 330 metres of traffic queues, helping reduce congestion and emissions and it is our ambition to help spread this message across the county.

Read more about our sustainability strategy and our drive to net zero

Customer experience

We’ve made the bus journey simple for everyone and embraced the changes that have come into effect over the past 40 years. Tickets can be bought in advance on our website or app or paid for with contactless on board.

Don’t worry if that’s not your thing, we still accept cash. Plus, our fares are among the lowest of any national UK bus company.  

We know there’s no such thing as “one size fits all” so we offer a wide range of tickets so you, our customer, can choose the best value travel for you. 

We’ve updated our website and app to make bus travel even easier. Catching the bus today, tomorrow or later? Our Plan your journey feature does exactly what it says on the tin so you can plan the date, time and route of your journey. Not sure where to wait for the bus? Use the website or app to find your nearest bus stop.   

We recently added a live map to our Stagecoach Bus App, letting you track where your bus is on the route and check if you’ve got time to grab a coffee before it arrives. Plus, our Busy Bus indicator on the app shows you when it’s the quietest time to travel. Forget time travel...this is travel for the 21st century.