Oxford, High Wycombe & surrounding areas

updated Sunday 4th February 2001
the next update will be on Sunday 11th February 2001

Please note that any comments made in this news page are those of the Editors' and in no way constitute 
any official points of view from the bus companies mentioned,  or indeed any other official body. 
As a news page we reserve the right to make valid comments as seen from an editorial point of view.

Problems with the pictures ! - sometimes it seems that the pictures do not load.
I have found a solution which does work normally - 
RIGHT CLICK ON THE PICTURE AND THEN CLICK ON "SHOW PICTURE"
Good luck !

A week of livery news saw both Arriva and Oxford out shopping buses in different liveries. These are well documented in the respective company sections below. 

However the News of the Week is that the fifth Park & Ride in Oxford will go ahead with the announcement that John Prescott has decided not to call in the plans for an 800 space car park on the site adjacent to the Gosford grain silo near Kidlington. The original plans were for a 1000 space site but this was scaled down. Understandably the residents of Kidlington are not so impressed but it is my personal view that such facilities are going to hit prominence if and when the Government is going to really tackle the problem of the car! Further news is that the Thornhill site is to be doubled in size by a further 500 spaces. It currently has 460 spaces and is much used by London commuters. Mr Eddie Luck, Assistant Director of Transport Development in Oxford said "We need to provide more capacity to get people into the centre of Oxford by bus instead of the car". It now seems certain that the order for further double deckers by Oxford Bus will get the green light but confirmation of this is awaited.

Last Friday saw a most interesting programme in the BBC "Get me the Manager" series, when Oxford Bus was featured during the week when St Aldates was resurfaced. Phil Clarke, the then Operations Manager was featured with two customer service staff and two drivers talking about trying to keep the services running to time. The delays and confusion were well portrayed in the programme and all operating companies got a good share of the action.

Cyclists were prominent in the programme and it is sad that this week's news also included a report on the inquest on a fatality who had been told to take care when cycling in Oxford. Whilst many cyclists are careful, from experience, I can vouch for the fact that there are many more who are downright dangerous, placing themselves at risk on a daily basis.

Company reports - to 4th February 2001

Arriva serving the Shires & Essex.

The first Plaxton Verde bodied Volvo B10B returned from repaint on Thursday and having been delivered to Cressex it first service was a trip to Heathrow on the 74. This was on Friday morning and later in the day it seems it may have operated to Oxford. On Saturday it was out on driver familiarisation beofre going for its routine safety check. I managed to get a few phots and I must say it looked very smart. The bus in question was ex 625, now 3843 N413NRG and it seen below on the driver fam trip.

I noted that  Olympian 234 only carries a WBC vinyl on the offside. The nearside has an Arriva one. No ex WBC bus is away this week and it is the turn of on from Cressex depot. The expected A reg olympian has not yet materialised and it seems 5382 is not coming to Wycombe after all. 

Mercedes 2132 - N912ETM - was noted in service on Saturday on the 339. Lynx 3344 - H254GEV - was back in service operating to Aylesbury.

Whilst I am sure drivers leaving Newlands Bus Station don't exceed safe speeds there are a number of photo opportunities to get some racy shots of departing services. 5134 - G131YWC is seen on a 372 working last Saturday morning.

 Oxford Bus Company (City of Oxford Motor Services)

Volvo coach nr 8 has received VCS livery and there are now two such coaches running together as nr 50 is still in service and will be so until March 1st. I tried several shots on Saturday and this one was the best of a bad bunch. The sun was really good but the buildings in Oxford made too many shadows. 

Final confirmation of the new coaches was given. 23-28 will be Y23-28OXF as expected. Older examples, 9-12, will go onto X90s and 14 and 15 will become pool coaches with Oxford express lettering, joining 57 and 58 on mixed duties. Accident damaged coach 56 returned home on Thursday and is fully sheeted over and locked away from prying eyes. It is thought that it will be used for spares and reduced to scrap, a sad and tragic end for an excellent coach.

The most unusual working of the week was that of 648 on X3 road. Both 616 and 617 were in the garage for attention and so 648 had a "day out" on the express! It is seen below loading in St Aldates for an afternoon dash to Abingdon.

As mentioned above the 5th Park & Ride has been given the go ahead and we now await details of additional double deck orders.

An Olympian was in the paint shop on Saturday in course of a full repaint but in what livery is not yet known. 214 and 222 are still in Poole. Another interesting visitor to works was a Guide Friday AEC Regal of the HKL batch. Again the reason for its visit is unknown at this time. 

My steeds for my X90 duty on Saturday turned out to be 43 and 44, Volvo/Jonckheeres, not my favourite coaches but we got there an back on time, so I shouldn't complain!

Stagecoach in Oxford.  

Stagecoach Tube nr 34 has received a new full rear advert for NAV TRACK in place of the May Ball from 2000 carried until recently! It may be that 35 and 36 will also receive a similar advert. The two new image Volvo B6s  838 and 842 were both in service on Saturday, the former being on route 3 and the latter on Abingdon services. 842 still lacks fleet numbers. 

Richard Haughey from Cambridge notes that MAN 915 is on loan for a short time to test suitability in the narrow streets of that city. It seems a Metrorider was sent in exchange but I don't believe it was used in service.

The Tubes are still excluded from their normal terminus in Grosvenor Gardens, near Victoria, and as such take their layover close to VCS. One of the oldest Darts was in use on the Blackbird Flyer on Saturday last.

Vic Gacowski writes with some interesting information on current running of the Stagecoach services. I quote his work below and hope many of you find it interesting. These comments are based on a study of the timetables and personal observations.

Details of the unusual working of one 20C journey from Oxford to Old Woodstock of Stagecoach. The vehicle operates ex Witney Garage as follows -

SX

42 0659 Witney  , via Hanborough to Old Woodstock 0724

20 0725 Old Woodstock to Oxford Station (Station Square)  0815 (Normal route in via the Woodstock Road)

20C 0815 Oxford Station (Station Square)  to Old Woodstock - Runs via the Botley Road to Seacourt Tower/Botley Interchange and then A34 to Pear Tree to pick up the normal 20 route. Nice bit of High Speed Running from Botley Interchange to Pear Tree on a piece of road that has not had a timetabled stage carrier on it for as long as I can remember.

SO

The vehicle is Chipping Norton based -

20     0659 Chipping Norton to Oxford Station (Station Square) 0804

20C  0805 Oxford Station (Station Square) to Old Woddstock 0837    via Botley Road as SX

This means that even if WY turn out a Midi on SX there is a good chance of a big bus (Normaly 901 , 902 or 903 ) on Saturdays.
The 0815 SX / 0805 SO are the only journeys that take this unusual route towards Woodstock.
In reverse the 1735 SX Old Woodstock to Oxford due 1805 goes this way. The only journey in reverse. I think its a CN allocation.
No Reverse journey Saturdays.

Also there is now one Witney to Old Woodstock journey via Hanborough each way on a Sunday to position a WY allocation for 20 Road Workings.

These are

42 0830 Witney to Old Woodstock 0855

42 1846 Old Woodstock to Witney 1911

Unless you want to stay in Old Woodstock from 0855 to 1846 you can't get back!    I suppose its better to advertise a service rather than run dead.

Vic says that he thinks the new SCO Oxford Timetables look good and are well laid out. 32 Road has a very good service now with the first Oxford to Harwell (via Abingdon and Didcot Station)  being at 0540 SX. The first return from Harwell being at 0608..

Another note is that the 7C Old Woodstock to Kidlington FREE SAINSBURYS bus is now operated by R.H Transport and the current Stagecoach Oxford timetable shows this but states it has no connection with SCO.   It appears that the RH bust is a green/yellow vehicle with some seats removed at the rear and although the regular driver is very helpful the vehicle has clearly seen better days. Sadly Vic has no more details. Who are R.H.Transport ?.

Thanks Vic for a most interesting piece of work.

Prestwood Travel, High Wycombe.

Pete Brown wrote with details of the above company fleet. Many thanks to Pete , I include his work below. (This corrects an error in which this was attributed to Mike Farthing in error - my apologies to both gentlemen)

Neoplan N122/3 / Neoplan Skyliner                CH57/17Ft    902 CWX
Neoplan N122/3 / Neoplan Skyliner                CH57/16Ft    C82 YKK
Daimler Fleetline / MCW                                H45/35F        KJD 89P
Leyland Atlantian AN68 / Northern Counties  H47/30F        A759 NNA
Scania K113CRB / Berkhof Excellence 3000    C53F           TJI 4834
Scania K113CRB / Berkhof Excellence 3000    C53F           TJI 4835
Leyland Royal Tiger / Roe                               C53F           E48 TYG
DAF / Bova Europa                                          C53F           RJI 4669
DAF / Bova Europa                                          C52F           RJI 4670
AEC Reliance / Plaxton Supreme IV               C53F           APM 111T
AEC Reliance / Plaxton Supreme IV               C53F           APM 117T
AEC Reliance / Plaxton Supreme IV               C53F           EPM 140V
AEC Reliance / Plaxton Supreme IV               C53F           EPM 146V
AEC Reliance / Plaxton Supreme III               C50F           WRO 438S
Scania K92CRS / East Lancs                           B55F           D207 MKK
Leyland Leopard / Wadham Stringer Vanguard    B54F    CPE 480Y
Leyland Leopard / Wadham Stringer Vanguard    B54F    PPJ 162W

They operate one public bus service:    27   High Wycombe - Cryers Hill - Prestwood - Great Missenden

I am very pleased to have these type of details, as it increases the scope of this page Ed.

Other items

Mike Farthing sent two pictures posted below in the photo section and has promised an up to date fleet list of Motts for a future inclusion.

  PHOTO CORNER
If you have a digital camera and wish to submit photos for this page please send them to the me at
malcolmhc@aol.com

Several modern coaches in Motts yard near Aylesbury. (Mike Farthing)

A less apertising sight fo Red Rover's yard in Aylesbury (Mike Farthing)

An ex Speedlink Scania, M719KPD, heads for Oxford having just left High Wycombe Bus Station 
last Saturday on the Jetlink 757/767 service.

Mercedes 720 seen in Wycombe and still showing Wycombe Bus Company on its number blind!

Blighted by shadows, I managed this shot of an unusual performer on the 66 to Swindon last Saturday.
Dart 960, V960DDG is from the Gloucester Citybus fleet and had a label 
bearing the inscription 66 in place of a proper display.

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