Stagecoach in Oxfordshire is the trading name of Thames Transit Ltd. It is a bus operator serving the county of Oxfordshire, England. Since 1997 has been a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group, and since February 2021 it has been part of Stagecoach West, managed from the latter's headquarters in Gloucester. History In 1987 Harry Blundred, a former bus driver and controller from Devon, founded both Thames Transit and the Oxford Tube. In 1997 Stagecoach Group bought both operations from Blundred and merged them with Stagecoach Midland Red. Stagecoach South Midlands operated four brands: Oxford Tube for express buses between Oxford and London Victoria Stagecoach in Banbury for local buses in and around Banbury Stagecoach in Oxford for local buses in and around Oxford Stagecoach in Warwickshire for local buses in Warwickshire In July 2002 the Banbury and Oxford brands were merged as "Stagecoach in Oxfordshire". In March 2004 Stagecoach in Oxfordshire and Stagecoach in Warwickshire were split into two divisions with those names. Stagecoach buses in Oxford, and from Oxford to Abingdon and Kidlington, compete with local buses operated by the Oxford Bus Company. Oxford is one of the few UK cities where such free and unsubsidised competition, as envisaged by the architects of bus deregulation in the 1980s, still exists. In 2010 it was announced that Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach in Oxfordshire, in consultation with Oxfordshire County Council, had agreed a Bus Quality Partnership as enabled by the Local Transport Act 2008. The partnership would improved multi-operator ticketing across the City and co-ordinate bus timetables on the four busiest shared routes. On 15 July 2010 Stagecoach in Oxfordshire introduced a fleet of 26 Alexander Dennis Enviro400H diesel-electric hybrid buses on Oxford – Cowley – Blackbird Leys route 1 and Oxford – Kidlington routes 7A/7B (now 2/2A/2B). Double deckers were chosen over single deckers as a result of the co-ordinated timetables and reduced frequencies to be introduced under the quality partnership. As newer buses joined the Oxfordshire fleet, the Enviro400H hybrids were transferred first to Oxford – Rose Hill route 3, then to Kidlington – Headington route 700 and now to Oxford – Cowley – Headington route 10. In October 2016 Stagecoach announced the introduction of new electronic ticket machines to enable passengers to pay by contactless payment card or by smartphone using Apple Pay or Google Pay. Stagecoach in Oxfordshire was the first Stagecoach division to receive these new