Banburyshire bus passenger complains of 'hair-raising trip making up time for 20mph speed limits'

The passenger lives in Banbury but decided to take a trip on the Stagecoach S488 to Chipping Norton as a leisure outing.

He said the timetable had not been changed since 20mph limits were introduced in Banbury, Bloxham, Milcombe and Hook Norton and the speeds the driver had to travel to keep to the arrival and departure times were ‘hair raising’.

Stagecoach told the Banbury Guardian reviews of timetables show the S488 is due to have a review shortly. It has changed the way it operate the service to allow additional recovery time at the end of each journey in Banbury, the company says.

The passenger said: “It was interesting. The driver only managed to get to Chipping Norton somewhere near on time by going at rather hair-raising speeds along the narrow lanes between the villages, and it was the same on the return journey.

"I pondered why this was so, then realised that the timetable had not changed since all the 20mph limits were imposed - so no wonder he was having problems keeping time.

“If lower speed limits are imposed on the A4260 Banbury to Oxford Road (as reported in the Banbury Guardian last week) I'm wondering how this will affect the timing of the Oxford S4 and X4 services?”

Karen Coventry, Commercial Director for Stagecoach West said: “We take safety very seriously at Stagecoach, we have tracking systems on all of our buses, which monitor driver's accelerator, brake and steering inputs.

"All of our driving staff also receive regular training to support them whilst they're on the road to make the right decisions for the safety and comfort of our customers. Where our staff fall below our standards it is vital that this is reported to our customer service team to allow us to intervene and provide further training or coaching where required.

“We regularly review all of the timetables across our network including Service 488 - which is due a review shortly. We fully support reduced speed limits to improve safety for all road users, and our focus therefore is on ensuring bus priority measures are in place to offset any increases to journey time.

"Where possible we have adjusted our timetables accordingly, and whilst we haven't changed this specific timetable yet, we have changed the way we operate the service to allow additional recovery time at the end of each journey in Banbury.”

• A public consultation has been launched by Oxfordshire County Council on a plan to reduce speed limits between Banbury and Oxford. Limits would be reduced in Bodicote and on the main road towards Oxford via Adderbury, Deddington and Hopcrofts Holt and beyond. Documents giving more details of the proposals are available for public inspection online by visiting this site. Consultation responses should be completed and returned by 5pm on Friday July 4.
• The county council will review the responses and, if objections are received, prepare a report to be presented to the Cabinet Member for Highway Management at a meeting scheduled for later in 2025.