Stagecoach Gold bus route S3 is a bus route in England that links Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Woodstock, Yarnton and Oxford. The service is run by

Stagecoach West Stagecoach West is the trading name of Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company Limited, a bus operator providing services in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Swindon, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, North Somerset and Herefordshire, in the West of England. ...

History

Stagecoach_Oxforshire,_Oxford_(16362265566)

Prior to being numbered S3, route S3 used to operate as routes 20/20A, with route 20 operating between

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and 20A between

Charlbury Charlbury () is a town and civil parish in the Evenlode Evenlode is a village and civil parish ( ONS Code 23UC051) in the Cotswold District of eastern Gloucestershire in England. Evenlode is bordered by the Gloucestershire parishes of More ...

& Oxford. The services were numbered S3 in 2009 when Stagecoach launched the 'S' Series routes across the county. Route S3 was upgraded to

Stagecoach Gold Stagecoach Gold is a luxury bus sub-brand used by various Stagecoach bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach Gold (originally Goldline) was launched in 2007 and was designed to attract more middle-class passengers to choose bus travel ...

status in September 2012. In 2017, route S3 was caught up in a bus route war in Woodstock following the extension of an

Oxford Bus Company Oxford Bus Company is the trading name of The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd. Company Number 91106 It is a bus operator serving the city and surrounding area of Oxford, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History Horse trams ...

Park & Ride service and the creation of Stagecoach's route 7. Subsequently, route S3's daytime frequency was reduced to two buses per-hour instead of three, and would work alongside route 7 to provide four services per-hour between Woodstock and Oxford.

Route

Route S3 operates between Chipping Norton, Woodstock & Oxford and Charlbury, Woodstock & Oxford. The Chipping Norton branch of the route starts in the South of the town before making its way towards the town centre. From there, the service joins the

A44 A44 may refer to : * A44 road (Great Britain), a road connecting Oxford, England and Aberystwyth, Wales * A44 motorway (Germany), a road connecting Aachen at the German-Belgian border and Kassel * A44 motorway (Netherlands), a motorway in the Nethe ...

and leaves the town towards the East. The service continues down the A44 London Road passing through

Enstone Enstone is a village and civil parish in England, about east of Chipping Norton and north-west of Oxford city. The civil parish, one of Oxfordshire's largest, consists of the villages of Church Enstone and Neat Enstone, with the hamlets of Cha ...

before arriving in Woodstock. The Charlbury branch of the route starts on Church Street, Charlbury before heading South and leaving the village via the B4022 before turning off and joining Main Street towards

Stonesfield Stonesfield is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish about north of Witney in Oxfordshire, and about 10 miles (17 km) north-west of Oxford. The village is on the crest of an escarpment. The parish extends mostly north and ...

. The route travels through the village on the main road before leaving South-East via Combe Road towards

Combe A combe (; also spelled coombe or coomb and, in place names, comb) can refer either to a steep, narrow valley, or to a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill; in any case, it is often understood simply to mean a small valley through wh ...

. In Combe, the service runs along the outer road, then heading North to join the

and heading towards

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

. From Woodstock, all services continue down the A44, passing

Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace (pronounced ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non-royal, non- episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, on ...

and then turning in to

Yarnton Yarnton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about southwest of Kidlington and northwest of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,545. Archaeology Early Bronze Age decorated beakers have been found in the par ...

. The service, travels through Yarnton via the main road and then re-joins the A44 heading towards Oxford. At Wolvercote roundabout, the route joins Woodstock Road heading towards the city centre. From the city centre, the service heads to its terminus at Oxford station via George Street and

Park End Street Park End Street is a street in central Oxford, England, to the west of the centre of the city, close to the railway station at its western end. Location To the east, New Road links Park End Street to central Oxford. To the west, Frideswide ...

. Some early morning and evening services serve both Chipping Norton and Charlbury. These services go via

Chadlington Chadlington is a village and civil parish in the Evenlode Valley about south of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village has five neighbourhoods: Brookend, Eastend, Greenend, Millend and Westend. Archaeology There is a bowl barrow about west ...

and

Spelsbury Spelsbury is a village and civil parish about north of Charlbury and about southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village is on a narrow hill between the Coldron and Taston brooks overlooking the River Evenlode and the ancient Wychwood ...

. The total off-peak journey time between Chipping Norton and Oxford is approximately 67 minutes and approximately 64 minutes for journeys between Charlbury and Oxford.

Service

Services run throughout the day Monday to Saturday with services up to every 30 minutes with one service per-hour terminating in Chipping Norton and the other terminating in Charlbury. There are late evening services that run between Chipping Norton and Oxford with one night service (NS3) Monday to Saturday at 00:35 to Chipping Norton. There is no late evening service on the Charlbury branch. The NS3 only runs in one direction from Oxford to Chipping Norton. There is a Sunday service on the Chipping Norton branch of the route with the service running up to every 30 minutes between Woodstock and Oxford and every 60 minutes between Chipping Norton and Oxford. Late evening services run every 60 minutes Monday to Sunday with an earlier finish on Sunday evenings.

References

External links

{{StagecoachGroup Bus routes in England Stagecoach Group Transport in Oxford Transport in Oxfordshire