Oxford

updated Sunday 29th April 2001
the next update will be on Sunday 6th May 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 !

St Giles in the centre of Oxford sees the introduction of a coach unloading area created with continental, left hand drive coaches in mind. As can be seen from this photo there is a pedestrian walkway between the coach bays and the cycle lane. This has resulted in a reduction in the width of the road leading into and out of Oxford at this point. This is because these areas are now a feature of both sides of the road. It seems that additional congestion has been caused as a result and traffic on Saturday morning was backed up to St Margaret's Road, north of this point (behind the camera) and with the closure of George Street on Monday and the enforced use of bus services joining the right turning traffic past the Randolph Hotel, one can only imagine the problems which will be caused.

The photo above serves to illustrate two items of interest. Firstly this is the point of George Street which will be totally closed for urgent repairs for 11 weeks from Monday 30th April. One can see the poor road surface in the bottom foreground of the picture. Secondly we see 514 , an Oxford Bus Marshall Dart, working the 300 service which operates between Redbridge (South) and Peartree (North). This was due to a shortage of Trident buses on Saturday and must have been somewhat unwelcome to passengers sued to easy access low floor buses.

Other events making the news this week are the possible introduction of more bus/truck only lanes on our Motorways. Having used the M4 London bound beyond Heathrow last Saturday, one can only wonder at the increased frustration of the ordinary motorist, whilst on other thinking maybe it will make the bus man's life easier.

Another one, highlighted by the latest edition of "Arriva 2001" in the British Bus Fleets series , is the introduction in many continental cities of the 15m bus which would not sit well in the confined streets of a city like Oxford.

Steve Annells writes to advise that The draft Final consultants' report for the Abingdon Integrated Transport Study has retained the northbound bus lane on Drayton Road into Abingdon, from south of Preston Road to Mill Road. There is also mention of introducing a network of minibus services in Abingdon, and a number of other improvements. The proposed bus station doesn't seem to be high on the consultants' list, although the steering group want it sooner rather than later. The best site is thought to be the existing multi-storey car park, which is likely to be a difficult subject. There's also much made of Quality Bus Partnerships. (I look forward to further news on this interesting development Ed.)

A Wycombe Running day will offer travel on many historic buses including Routemasters and many other interesting buses.

2001 - a Bus Odyssey

Wycombe Running Day

Sunday 27th May 2001
10 until 5

Rover ticket £5
Child/OAP £3
Family £9

This year's routes are:
36 Frieth Schools
305/42 West Wycombe
363 Penn
455 Beaconsfield

A DAY OUT FOR ALL THE FAMILY
Timetables available from Newlands Bus Station

The Wycombe Bus Running Day promises to be a bumper extravaganza this year and will probably the last time that the Wycombe Bus Company livery will be seen in at such an event. Also nearing the end in Thames Valley livery is Olympian 229 which is due for repaint anytime now. So don't miss the fun from ten 'til five , timetables can be obtained from Wycombe Bus Station.

The timetable for 757/767 services changed somewhat from April 2nd and whereas the coaches used to almost pass at Stokenchurch, they are now at opposite sides of each hour. The High Wycombe bound service is now on the hour and the Oxford bound at 25 past the hour. A new timetable has been produced but is in VERY short supply. No coaches are presently carrying any!!!!!

Here we see the oldest coach in the Airlinks fleet (I think?) - an ex Wallace Arnold
H reg Plaxton Volvo nr 347 - H647UWR. This coach had not been seen by me on
this route for several months but appeared several times last week.

Arriva 3817 -H367XCG - is the first of these Wright Handybus bodied Darts,
ex Wycombe Bus to repainted into corporate livery. It seen here posed for camera
with a "wishful thinking display" on the blind. It looked very smart.

This week sees Wright Darts 3812 and 3823 away for repaint and 2824 away for other work. New corporate style timetables are now available at Wycombe for all the old Wycombe bus routes. They lack any maps and are, in my opinion, a retrograde step when compared to those previously produced under the old management.

A trip over to Aylesbury, today Sunday, proved most interesting. Work on the new Arriva Garage there is proceeding with some speed and I was told it should be ready for occupation in August/September time. The fleet there is very interesting and I will be bringing you some more photos in the coming weeks of what is to be seen.

3080 - F152KGS - an ex Buffalo Volvo B10M-56/Plaxton Derwent example
has been transferred in to Aylesbury Depot.

Oxford Park&Ride route is normally the exclusive haunt of the Trident deckers.
however Saturday saw the use of this Dart (501) instead of a Trident.
It was the more unusual in that there was also 514 on the 300, see picture above.

Volvo coach 11 is in the paintshop and will emerge in full X90 branded livery. It was previously an Airport branded coach.

Olympians 208 and 221 are still away at Crawley whereas 214 is now undergoing a full overhaul in Cowley Road works. It will re-emerge in full livery having had a brewery advert until now.

At last a decent picture of a repainted Olympian. 526 caught by the camera
in the centre of Oxford on route 100.
The logos are a decent size and the bus looks generally better than 520.

The repaint programme is beginning to have its effect on the impression created in Oxford. Often the new liveried buses out number the old livery. More are taking to the roads each week and I suspect I will hunting out the last in the old stripes before too long.

The first of the old Thames Transit Darts has emerged in the new livery. 784 was working
the City Circle last Saturday when caught by my camera.

Finally my congratulations to The Tube for winning best Bus/Coach at the Brighton coach Rally last weekend. 38 was the coach used and it looked very smart indeed. Did anyone get a photo I can use on the page??

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

A visit today, Sunday, to Kingsey near Thame, revealed very few of the classic fleet
remaining at this location. Those pictured above are Renault HDZ5454, Duple KPC405W
and Nationals PUK641R (nearest the camera) and UMO181N (partially hidden by the Renault.)
The Renault is in appalling condition having been seriously vandalised.

The Oxford Classic Tour carries on as ever, here we see 301 coming down a
reasonably traffic free St Giles. Not for much long one imagines.

Following on from our publication of the Motts fleet list, my Sunday jaunt
revealed the ex Brentwood Coaches / Eastern National Olympian double deck coach
B688BPU, now re-registered LIL7230 and bearing an ECW bus style front end,
grafted onto the original body! It shares the photo with ex Black Prince
Volvo B56/East Lancs 641UTO, a long time servant of Motts.

Thames Travels' X249VWR Optare Solo working their route 18 from Clanfield
into central Oxford. It was seen last Saturday outside The Randolf Hotel.