Patients, relatives and NHS staff are getting a new bus service linking an Oxford park-and-ride with the city's John Radcliffe Hospital.

Hospital users can now park at Redbridge in South Oxford and catch a bus to the Headington hospital.

New traffic lights and road layout changes make it easier for buses to stop at the park-and-ride terminal.

The hospital trust paid for the £70,000 scheme as part of the expansion of the JR site. It follows the success of the Water Eaton 700 service, which the trust launched last year to coincide with the opening of the £130m West Wing and the Oxford Children's Hospital.

That service runs every 15 minutes from 7am to 7pm and is well used, according to hospital trust bosses.

Louisa Weeks, of Oxford Bus Company, which is running the new service from Redbridge, said: "We believe there is a great demand for an improved service to the JR from Redbridge. All our City X13 journeys to and from the JR and Abingdon will now pull into Redbridge. The changes also mean there'll be a link from Redbridge to the railway station for the first time using the City X3 service."

Mervyn Phipps, assistant director of estates and facilities at Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals, said: "This is great news for our patients, visitors and staff.

"We always encourage alternatives to driving to the hospital and hope that people will really benefit from this change."

Elika Saedi, a spokesman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, said the new bus should also cut traffic problems at the JR.

She added: "Parking can be difficult on site and if patients are struggling to find a parking space they could end up being late for appointments. It is cheaper coming by bus and much less stressful."

She said the trust eventually hoped to have frequent bus services linking all the Headington hospitals with all five Oxford park-and-ride sites.