Category Archives: bus

X is for X3 and X2 and X1 (Abingdon <-> Oxford buses)


Being in the front seat on the top deck of the X3 bus has all the excitement of a fairground ride, but you don’t get an announcer shouting, ‘Scream if you want to go faster’. Instead, every stop is announced by a calming voice, ‘Vineyard… Our Ladys Abingdon … Oxford Road shops …’

There were two Lib Dem posters up the Oxford Road. That is fewer than in previous local elections, and the amount of literature through the door is also reduced.

At the Boundary House, the X3 passed another X3 coming the other way. The drivers waved. My first car was a VW Beetle, and we used to wave to other Beetle owners.

At Peachcroft Roundabout, a new flood alleviation pool is visible. Apparently, flooding in North Abingdon after the recent rains is being blamed on the new housing. The latest Abingdon Herald has a headline about calls to stop further house building until the flood risk is sorted.

Returning to Abingdon, I missed the X3, but the X2 arrived soon afterwards to pick up passengers at St Aldates to Abingdon.

Another X3 had just arrived from Abingdon, coming the other way. Then came the X1, the Wantage, Abingdon, Oxford bus.

41 – Abingdon Town Bus

Abingdon Town Bus
The 41 Abingdon Town bus was withdrawn when the County Council withdrew funding for a lot of the subsidised bus routes, but has been re-introduced with a year’s funding of £30,000 thanks to Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council.

In addition to the old route of the Town Centre and Fairacres and South Abingdon the bus now also connects with the Leisure Centre and Hadland Road Community Centre.
Abingdon Town Bus
The bus stops on Stratton Way
Abingdon Town Bus
instead of the war memorial, which means there are not a lot of buses stopping at the war memorial anymore – just the S8 to Wantage.

Pride in Abingdon

Pride in Abingdon
The Oxford Bus Company have created a rainbow bus in support of Oxford Pride. It says Embracing Diversity across our City
Pride in Abingdon
The bus comes to Abingdon as the X3 or X13, and also does some Oxford City routes. Oxford Pride 2018 is between 25th May and 3rd June with the Pride Day parade on Saturday 2nd June.

X13 to the JR

Wind and Rain
There is not much to choose between the X2 X3 or X13 buses when going from Abingdon to Oxford. They all end up at Oxford City Centre.

The X13 however then goes all the way to the John Radcliffe Hospital (JR). Twenty minutes after dropping people off at the city centre it drops passengers off at the JR. Given that car parking at the JR is so expensive, and difficult to find, it is worth considering next time there is a non emergency situation.

This Sunday between 5.30am to 2pm there will be some disruption to the X13 bus route as a portable building is lifted in position at the JR. It is being put there to help speed up patient admissions at A&E (Accident and Emergency). The JR portakabin service will be led by GPs and provide treatment for patients who could be ‘more appropriately’ helped outside hospital.

The X13 will be diverted to the top end of the hospital while the portakabin is lifted into position.