Oxford, High Wycombe & surrounding areas

updated Sunday 22nd October 2000
The next update will be on Sunday 29th October 2000

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 !

The last week saw the introduction of the changes made to schedules by the Oxford Bus Company. This resulted in the withdrawal of 11 vehicles and the possible withdrawal of 5 more. Full details are given below under Company news.

I also had to visit KwikFit with my wife's car and as a result had time to watch things by the Station. What a mess ! Car and Commercial drivers alike blatantly ignore the road signs and continually clog up an area supposedly reserved for buses and taxis. As my pictures show below, it all helps to make OTS something of a joke. Many areas in Oxford suffer from the same abuses and the council seems powerless to do anything about it.

 In both the above pictures, commercials and cats ignore the signs.
The new surface is great though !

Another family chore gave me the opportunity to visit Wycombe Wanderers Football Ground and see the bus and coach operations when a match day is in progress. Walsall were the visiting team this last weekend and they left 3-1 down to what I am assured was the superior team !!  I did not stay as a single trip to Gatwick on the Oxford express called and I had enjoyed a 3-0 win on sky for my own team that morning !!!

    Wycombe Olympian 227 shares a parking space with Hallmark EOS  R6HMC, the Walsall Team coach.

Company reports - 21st October 2000

Airlinks (Cambridge Coach Services)

The effects of the take over of CCS by Airlinks can be seen on most days now with a wide variety of coaches operating the 757/767 group services into Oxford through High Wycombe. A hired coach (Richmonds Volvo-Van Hool) was seen on Saturday morning heading through Studley Green on the A40 and the Jetlink coach operating towards Oxford around the same time had a board in the back window proclaiming it to be running on the 025 : Brighton-London service !!!!  What a very sad situation, who are they running the services for I wonder, profit or the customer ?

Volvo/Plaxton V9 - G809BPG operates through Stokenchurch to Oxford on the 757.
The board proclaiming it to be on the 025 from Brighton to London can be clearly seen.

Oxford Bus Company (City of Oxford Motor Services)

The service cuts which came into effect on October 15th have resulted in the withdrawal of 10 Darts as follows. 502, 503, 504, 506, 507, 508, 511, 516, 518 and 520. As mentioned in last weeks report the total was to have been 15 but so far only the above have left service. They now await sale along with Volvo coaches 52, 59 and 60. 

As a result of the changes there have also been a number of allocation alterations. Ex London Volvos, once only seen on 4 road are now appearing on 2 and 22 road. This is for a number of reasons. One is that only these buses, plus the older Darts, have the new destinations on, as seen below with 645 operating to Harcourt Hill on 22 road........................ . 

............................. also the "run out" in the morning means that the Allocators need to use these buses more freely. Indeed last night , Saturday, 653 was seen on 5 road just before midnight, an occurrence previously unheard of. I am hopeful of being able to bring you a more detailed account of how the allocations take place including a garage layout plan with a typical night listing.

The changes have also seen coaches on 4 and 13 roads with 58 putting in a turn on 13 road last Friday morning ! This is only happening in the rush hours and will doubtless change once the new situation ease down.

Other interesting workings saw 611 on 13B and 647 plus 653 on 2 road last Wednesday evening. A shortage of Tridents (112 is away at Dennis) saw 606 on 300 road last Saturday and 647 on 400 road on the same day. 

Finally for this week Olympian 224 still appears to be licenced and indeed 214 is back at Wycombe for a spell and was on football duties last Saturday.

Stagecoach Oxford.  

Dart SLF - Alexander ALX200 MPD number 100 is out service at present with a mechanical fault. Last Saturday it seemed that some effort had been made to keep branded buses on branded routes and maybe as a result, 516 was seen on 32A to Didcot. 

As mentioned some months ago Stagecoach Oxford provides overnight accommodation for the Midland Red South vehicle operating the 320 service to Bradford each morning. A controller from Stagecoach brings the coach down to Gloucester Green, picking up the MRS driver en route. The normal coach used is one of the latest Volvo B10M-62/Jonckheere Mistral 50 coaches in the 61-63 batch. Friday morning saw 61  T661OBD operating this working and leaving Gloucester Green some 10 minutes late due to traffic congestion on its way in from Horspath.

Volvo B10M-62/Jonckheere Mistral 50  C44FT  61 :T661OBD 

Wycombe Bus Company

The need to take my grandson to Wycombe Wanderers Football ground on Saturday meant that I could see the end result of the "Football Specials" run for League and Cup Games at the club ground at Sands. 

Wycombe Wanders with Olympian 214 and Motts Leopard OWX368X.

Wycombe Bus provide 4 services the 500 from The Rail Station, 501 from Micklefield, and 502 from Penn. Olympians are always used and provide much needed capacity from the town, now that the ground is further out at Sands.

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

Motts Leopard 641UTO is seen parking up just before kick off last Saturday.
Motts run two routes to the ground, A from Prestwood and C/G combined from Aylesbury.

Flights had two coaches at Wycombe on Saturday with Walsall supporters.
F11GHT, a most appropriate registration graced this fine 6 wheeler.

Excelsior of Bournemouth a subsidiary of Flights provided this brand new Volvo/Plaxton Puma
for Saturdays 310 service to Birmingham from Oxford. I was told that a similar coach in 
National Express livery is due anytime for this service.

Three generations of Plaxton coach rears can be seen in this photo taken last Saturday.
Swanbrook (exOxford-Shearings) is generation 1, the Jetlink, CCS and NatEx coaches 
represent generation 2 and the Excelsior one is of course generation 3 and the latest.

Lucketts 8686DN was seen in Oxford last Wednesday evening awaiting a party of theatregoers.

Looking a little care worn, Wycombe Olympian 226 was waiting for time at Stokenchurch
Kings Arms last Saturday on its way to Wycombe. Pity about the blind setting !!!!

I will be pleased to receive your reports for this section
Please send your reports to MalcolmHC@aol.com and thank you for all your sightings, they are most welcome.