Oxford, High Wycombe & surrounding areas
from THE OXFORD BUS PAGE

Your reports are welcome at malcolmhc@aol.com

updated Sunday 24th June 2001
the next update will be on Sunday 1st July 2001

   Issue nr. 152  

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 !

Chaos follows an 18" water pipe burst in St Clements!

No buses or indeed any traffic was able to use St. Clements on Wednesday 20th June
following problems with an 18" main water pipe damaged during roadworks presently
taking place in this busy thoroughfare, being the main access from the east and London.
Here we see work in progress to effect repairs and re-open the road to traffic.
Closure was from around 0300 until 0100 the following morning.

The offending pipe can be seen in the centre of Richard's picture.

Welcome to issue 152 of the Weekly News Page. This week proved interesting, if not a little inconvenient to the citizens of Oxford when St. Clements had to be closed to all traffic for a period of about 24 hours. The offending water pipe, an 18" main, had to be replaced and during that time all traffic was diverted away from the area. There was a knock on effect to most of Oxford and bus services were severely disrupted. Traffic was unable to use the main road between Morrell Avenue and Dawson Street. Managers at both main bus companies were called from their beds in the wee small hours of the dawn to recast the services for that day! All the services which normally use that road were diverted, including all the express coach services to London, Heathrow and Gatwick. 

Here we see Oxford express nr 4 ahead of a Stagecoach M A N, inbound from Headington, 
turning down Marston road on their way into Oxford.

Special notices were attached to the stops in St. Clements and High Street advising passengers of the service changes. Managers were on hand to answer questions and generally help smooth out a very difficult day. Work continues in St. Clements and one hopes there is no repetition of the problems caused last Wednesday.  Many thanks to Richard Griffin for the photos of the St Clements diversions.

Both major bus operators will introduce timetable changes on July 1st with revised timings designed to improve services affected by traffic delays. Full details may be found on the official company web sites or in timetable leaflets available from company offices or Gloucester Green Information Office.

A Working Time Directive proposes changes to the hours PCV drivers may work, specifically affecting double manning on long days out. However following intensive lobbying, it seems that changes are delayed or will not take place. Many coach companies were worried that they would not be able to offer such things as budget holidays including overnight travel had measures been adopted. 

Graffiti on buses is the subject of comment in the trade press last week with such vandalism highlighted and the cost of removing "such works of art" the subject of focus. This is interesting since Oxford Bus is just returning its Olympian fleet to service as a winter of rest. So far the buses are clean and tidy and one hopes this may remain so. Of course they are not used at night as indeed Stagecoach only uses their Olympians on the Witney services after dark!

   FROM THE DRIVING SEAT  
A weekly commentary on your Editors favourite pastime.

Mentioning Olympians, your Scribe enjoyed several hours on 208 last Friday.
Following repaint and overhaul, the whole Olympian fleet is in really excellent condition.
They are slotting in on various routes and offering increased seating capacity in peak hours.

Apart from the burst water main, which caused many problems for the operators last Wednesday, the week was quiet. Most colleges are getting ready to go down for the summer vac and Saturday evening saw a myriad of well dressed students - tails for the guys and long dresses for the girls - off to their final summer ball. Next week sees the arrival of the foreign language students and an increase in bus usage. Often speaking limited English, one has to be patient and helpful to ensure the visitors don't get lost. It does help the day a little when many of the boarding passengers have "CARDS" and one only had to be sure to punch them into the Wayfarer. In fact 22 road is rather a nice route with so many students having passes and the work of the driver reduced. 

My usual Saturday duty was on coach 7 with two trips to London. The radio advised of an RTA on the Westway, westbound for coaches leaving London and as I drove into london past the scene of the accident I could see a Range rover badly smashed up with the police in attendance. Sometimes one really has to wonder how such crashes happen. speaking of the passengers, one often faces problems of an unexpected nature. Saturday was no exception when a preceding service had an irate passenger at Queen's Lane trying to tender an old £20 note. These are no longer in general circulation and the driver seemingly refused the note. Matters escalated and the police were called.  Oh for the joys of driving a public service vehicle.

Our friends driving on the Jetlink service are cock-a-hoop with their new coaches. It seems there are 14 in total and most Cambridge services are operated by these vehicles. It is always really special to get ones hands on a brand new bus or coach. They of course fall in line with new regulations making the provision of side and rear blinds mandatory. I wonder how many people will benefit from this regulation?

Well more thoughts next week. 

Company reports - to 24th June 2001

AIRLINKS

Another arrival for the Cambridge-Oxford services is this Van Hool bodied DAF.
D308, Y308HUA.

Seen leaving the M40 at Stokenchurch junction 5,  D308 displays its 
striking new livery. However, as is often the case, it was running 15 minutes late.

The new coaches on the 757/767 group of services, carrying Van Hool bodywork, have fielded D308, 311, 313, 314 and 317. It seems that all the Oxford services will be operated by the new fleet and none have yet been seen in Victoria Coach Station. 

Arriva serving the Shires and Essex.

Ex Wycombe Bus Lynx 3809 is the first to receive Arriva corporate livery.
3806 has now gone away and will be back in a week.

General information is that many Mercs have now left in the last week, with 2826, 2827 and 2829 gone. This Sunday saw how far the Arrivisation has gone with only a handful of buses now left in the old livery. 

Unconfirmed rumours suggest that the seven ex Oxford Volvos will go and be replaced by seven brand new Scanias. Further the 24 Darts at Wycombe may now be replaced by an equal number of Dart MPDs. These rumours I must stress are unconfirmed. One wonders where the Volvos will go and of note the last time we had a major influx of new buses was when Alder Valley delivered the large batch of Bristol VRs back in the early '80s.

Unusual performer on the 323 this Sunday was Mercedes Vario 2196. 
This bus is usually on the U9 in the Uxbridge area. It is seen here loading in
Newlands Bus Station before departing to Ayelsbury.

Thanks also to Nigel Peach and Mike Penn for updates on matters in Wycombe.

Carousel, High Wycombe

Carousel seem to have another Metrobus this time from Metropolitan Omnibus but new to 
West Midlands. It is seen in their yard in Wycombe and is GOG235W.

Oxford Bus Company (City of Oxford Motor Services)

News of the week is the arrival of an Alexander demonstrator.
V929FMS is seen here being prepared for service on the 300 route.

An interesting arrival is of Dennis Trident demonstrator V929FMS. This is here because our Tridents need remedial work on the bodies which will take a number of weeks to complete. 929 will start work next week on 300 road and during its stay in Oxford will be confined to that route since it is too high to pass under  the station bridge. It is a single door bus, seating 74, (N47/27F 18S) . Oxford Trident is the first to go back to Alexander's for work and is expected to be away for around 2 weeks.

Volvo/Wright Renown 803 turns towards Headington from Morrell Avenue
during Wednesday diversions. It would then turn left down Marston Road gaining the 
city centre via Marston Ferry Road and Banbury Road.

Services from Worcester Street heading for the city centre now have to turn right 
and head off towards the station before turning back towards New Road and the city.
Here Olympian 214 on 300 road starts that diversion.

Mike Penn sent this excellent shot of ex CityLink Metroliner 904 now "sightseeing in London.

Another shot of an ex Citylink Metroliner is 907, mentioned last week.

Mike Penn in sending two photos of ex Oxford Citylink Metroliners says, I am attaching my photo of C907 GUD taken at Trafalgar Square on May 12th 2001. I am also attaching a photo of former City of Oxford 904 (B904 XJO) , now registered B241 LRA.  This has been in London for a number of years with London Coaches, now renamed The Original London Sightseeing Tour.  It came via Dunn-Line of Nottingham where it was registered A4 BOB, hence the Nottingham registration it carries now.  The photograph was taken in Whitehall on June 26th 1999. The different upper deck windscreen arrangement compared with 907 is interesting. Many thanks to mike for these two shots.

Interesting workings last week were of 214 on 2G card, 208 on 5E card and 221 on 4J card last Friday. 645 was on 15E card on the same day.  Last Thursday both 214 and 224 were on 300 road. 

Stagecoach in Oxford.  

Darts 710 and 713 from the Alexander batch are now repainted in the new corporate colours.
Here 713 pauses on the 10A on Cowley Road last Saturday.

Another repaint is M A N 913 seen here on route 1 last Saturday.
GF is at the wheel, the turn out looking very smart!

A number of Tubes are now receiving new logos and one wonders if they will also succumb to the new livery. It would be a shame if this were to happen as they have made a significant impact on the travelling public since their introduction three years ago.

Timetable changes will see the X50 become the 50 and city drivers working the route instead of the Tube drivers covering the service. One presumes that the "Shakespearean" departing London at 0900 each day will be a victim of the changes. It seems that an S reg Olympian from the Midland Red fleet will be drafted into to Oxford for the 50. More news next week, by which time I hope SCO will have advised me of details?

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

It seems that Magpie have acquired this coach following the demise of Tillingbourne.
Does anyone know the situation?

Another "visitor" to Binders Yard last Sunday was this ex London Dart.
It is reliveried for Anglian. does anyone have details?

I welcome your photos for inclusion on this page.
malcolmhc@aol.com

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