Oxford, High Wycombe & surrounding areas

updated Sunday 21st January 2001
the next update will be on Tuesday 30th January 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 !

This week proved to be an interesting and busy one from your Editor's point of view. After the usual sojourn in Sweden I returned on Thursday to a sunny and pleasant winter afternoon. Thus the opportunity was presented to fulfill a long promised visit to Thames Travel at Wallingford. This was all the more important since they had just taken delivery of a new Optare Solo. I am pleased to be able to include a fleet list and more pictures of this operator who is growing at a rapid pace.

Later the same day I called in at Stagecoach who had just received the first bus repainted in the new corporate colour scheme. Volvo B6 was back from works and looked really excellent. There is a full report under that operators heading below.

Arriva are busy with a new web site for The Shires and Essex which will doubtless be up and running quite soon. I will bring you details as soon as possible. 

A small "fares war" seems to have broken out between Oxford Bus and Stagecoach in Oxford. The passengers in the Abingdon area now have a much improved service with Stagecoach returning to many of its former routes suspended a year ago. Prices have also dropped and a 28 consecutive day card now costs £28. Both companies are fighting for market share and I think we may see more "initiatives" in the coming weeks. Actions are not limited to bus services and the express services to london are also in the news with " two for one" style offers, or at least take a "friend for a fiver" and "two for ten pounds" at the forefront of activities.

More comments received from visitors, relating to my question about the name of the site, support retaining the present name. It is my intention therefore to have the name as a web site address rather than the lengthy Geocities address. I am also going to make some subtle changes to the styling, whilst retaining the well tried formula which you all seem to like so much.

During my return from Sweden I found that the transit system at Stansted is out of action for 6 weeks and buses are taking the passengers to the gates from the terminal instead. I was able to get a picture of one of the goliaths used. It is a Cobus 3000 built in Germany suing a small Mercedes diesel engine. It has a capacity of 125 with just a few seats in its 3 m wide body. 

Cobus have an interesting web site which you may wish to visit. http://www.contrac-cobus.de. 

Just imagine one of these on the Oxford Park&Ride !!!!!  There are seemingly four of these buses at Stansted and the makers claim they will replace THREE normal city buses. 

Picture courtesy Mike Farthing

Mike Farthing writes to update news on Classic Coaches of High Wycombe, who are much in the news at present. The depot is one I also recently visited. It seems that the Aldershot & District National has now gone. (I also note that AEC Regent ex Hebble LJX198 has returned to home territory joining Halifax Joint Committee's fleet.) Mike notes that the remaining buses are in a dilapidated state with a number of coaches present, plus several buses including a Bristol VR.  Thanks to Mike for the two excellent pictures.

Picture courtesy Mike Farthing

More on the electric buses which went to Jersey.

Ian Moignard wrote last week to update us all on the fate of the Electric Buses which worked for both Oxford Bus and Stagecoach on a City Circle route 5 just a few years ago. An article appeared in the local paper which is quote below.

"End of the line for JEC's electric buses"

Company can see no commitment to green policy from the States

The JEC has decided to get rid of its three electric buses following last year's shambles with the Hoppa Bus service.

The company invested in the vehicles when the Hoppa Bus scheme started in 1998.  However, they see no immediate future for environmentally friendly public transport after the scheme failed to run last year, and now they plan to sell off the buses.

JEC managing director Mike Liston said "he could not see any prospect of a concerted commitment to a green transport policy from the States in the near future."

The vehicles are being sold off because the batteries degrade if they are left standing idle for too long.

The buses were not used at all last year after Public Services initially awarded the Hoppa Bus contract to Pioneer Coaches - against competition from JerseyBus.  The committee was then forced to withdraw the subsidy following a strike by JerseyBus drivers, prompting Pioneer to give up the licence.

The Pioneer business was subsequently sold to JerseyBus."

Notes:

States = States of Jersey, the parliament.

Three buses = three working buses, the fourth came here for spares, without transmission.

Public Services = a committee of the States of Jersey, formed from States members, that controls everything from sewers to road surfacing & cleaning to road transport to beach cleaning etc.

Thanks to Ian for the update, one wonders where the Electric Metroriders will surface this time ?

Company reports - to 21st January 2001

Arriva serving the Shires & Essex.

Some ex Wycombe buses remain un-renumbered the most notable being the Lynxs. One wonders if something maybe in store for these particular buses.

An addition to the Newlands Bus Station fleet is an Arriva Lynx transferred in or on loan from Harlow. As mentioned last week it was noted that Wycombe could receive one or two extra buses to enable repainting to be speeded up. Sadly this bus was out of action awaiting repair.

5830 is back from repaint, making a total of 4 Olympians completed, 5825, 5828, 5830 and 5831 !   Dart 504 still carries full Oxford branding on the rear including the web site address !!!

During a trip over a year ago to Glasgow I travelled on the gas DAF from the Airport into the City.
 It is now working the 321 out of Watford Depot. 
It was caught on camera here laying over at Rickmansworth. The view shows the care taken
in repainting Arriva buses with the livery applied logically over the whole bus including the roof.

Matt Wheeler wrote to send an updated fleet list for Aylesbury and he also made some interesting comments on the local operation. 

Matt says "as well as services around Aylesbury, there is also an Outstation in Leighton Buzzard, used to operate the Town Services there. Aylesbury depot also operates the Princes Risborough town services and appear to run one diagram on route 323/4 on a Saturday. A notable thing in the past week is some complaints from local residents regarding the service changes that came about last Sunday. These included a Southcourt family whose children are now required to change buses to get to school, whilst beforehand they only had to catch one!!

The amended Arriva page was posted last Wednesday and I will be supplementing this with information as mentioned above from Matt Wheeler.

Nigel Peach writes to say that 5830 is now back from repaint. Indeed, by coincidence on Friday lunchtime all 4 of the repainted Olympians 5825/8/30/31 were in Newlands Bus Station. Mercedes 716 had its blinds missing the other week but has since regained same.. However, 724 (2824) has been without blind for a while now. Ex Oxford Dart 503 also just shows the route number. I expect this also applies to 504, but that bus has eluded Nigel recently. He comments that it can't be good for passengers to just see the route number when they are awaiting the bus. (I am however sure that things like that will change very quickly Ed.)

 Oxford Bus Company (City of Oxford Motor Services)

A quite week, though on the 17th 2 road had all Volvos running the service, including 816 on the D card. (Recently 5xx Darts had been covering two or more duties Ed.) The X3 has seen unbranded buses on a couple of occasions last week with 607 and 609 putting in appearances. Unusually Dart 501 put in appearance on 4 road covering the J card.  Volvo B10B 603 put in appearance on 5 road for part of the same day on the 17th. The only routes now guaranteed to field a 5xx Dart of the 5A/B with 5   17, 509 and 512 covering the three duties on Wednesday 17th January.

Andy Gilmour visited Oxford on Saturday 7th January and reports seeing two Volvo B10BLEs on the 400.

High Street/Carfax looking towards the east, without a Stagecoach in sight. 816 is on 5 road.

Volvo 643 is the latest repaint.

Saturday once again saw me on my usual duty to London this week with dear old 59. I was surprised by the very good loads carried with a full coach on the 1715 from Victoria and a most respectable load on the 2200 departure. Friday evening was spent on the back end of a 400 road duty with 106. Again good loads resulted in a most enjoyable evening. There is nothing worse than driving empty buses around. 

Stagecoach in Oxford.  

The new Stagecoach image is seen for the first time in Oxford on a Volvo B6 842 which started life in Manchester. When this photo was taken fleet numbers had yet to be applied. The bus went into service on Saturday on the Wantage service and sadly eluded my lens. Further examples will now follow and it is hoped that the Oxford fleet will be repainted in about three years. The livery is certainly impressive and the Olympians should look very smart indeed. 

Work has also started on polishing the Tube coaches in an effort to prolong paintwork life. It is stated that the cost of the vinyls makes repainting an expensive process and it hoped that this action will alleviate the need for a repaint during the life of the coaches.

An article in a local paper states that pensioners are complaining about being "prisoners in their own homes" as a result of re-routing the Abingdon - Peachcroft services to the main road only. One will be interested to see how this problem develops.

Thames Travel.

A visit to the depot enabled me to gain a current fleet list which is published below. This company has grown very quickly and has a modern fleet which does include a couple of interesting second hand buses. One of interest is the Dennis Falcon with East Lancs bodywork which started life with Ipswich B.C. It is pictured below at the depot, where I was told it makes a few school runs each week.

FLEET LIST

ROUTE NETWORK

The cab of the new Optare Solo, giving a pleasant working environment for the driver.

The company can be seen to run a very challenging route structure and has made a success of routes where others have failed. This is certainly a company to watch in the next few years. With three more Solos due and further routes under consideration Thames Travel may become a force to be reckoned with.

  PHOTO CORNER
If anyone has a digital camera and wishes to submit photos for this page please send them to the above email.

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