update : 12/11/01 14:39

Thames Transit was started by Harry Blundred in 1987, initially operating Ford Transit minibuses as "Oxford Minibus". At the same time, a new express coach service to London was introduced as "The Oxford Tube" to compete with City of Oxford's Citylink service. Both the local and express services were successful, and the company's expansion was aided by the acquisition of South Midland, previously the rural division of COMS.

After the original Transits, Thames Transit bought slightly larger midibuses in the form of Mercedes with Reeve Burgess and Carlyle bodywork, and a number of these remain in service today, a handful still in their original liveries, but most repainted in Stagecoach stripes livery. They have been supplemented firstly by a batch of 13 new Mercedes Vario 0814's with Alexander ALX100 bodies purchased during August and September 1998, and secondly by a handful of vehicles from Midland Red South, some of which are in fact former Thames Transit midis returning home!

After a short-lived fleet of dual door Iveco minibuses, the next major type to enter the Thames Transit fleet came with the introduction of 14 dual door Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Darts carrying the then new Blackbird Flyer image. Further deliveries of the type brought the total to 66, including a batch of twelve single door variants. Twenty-one examples remain in the Oxford fleet, a number of the dual door versions having been transferred to Stagecoach fleets in London. In exchange came overhauled and repainted Darts with single door Alexander and Wright bodies; the latter have since departed but the Alexander Dash examples are still in Oxford. Three Plaxton Verde bodied Dennis Lances also feature in the current fleet and were among the last large buses to carry Thames Transit's battleship grey livery.

Shortly after the Stagecoach takeover, thirteen Alexander-bodied Volvo Olympians were ordered, with a further thirteen delivered a few months later, and these were followed by a batch of 29 low floor Dennis Darts with Alexander ALX200 bodywork. Within a year however, the Darts were dispersed to Busways, Cambus, Devon, Red & White and Western following the delivery of new MANs, and the first batch of Olympians had gone to Stagecoach Manchester in exchange for the smae number of Alexander ALX200 bodied Volvo B6LEs.

1998 saw the arrival of 9 Volvo B10M/Plaxton Paladin 48 seaters 904, these being a standard Stagecoach type at this time. They are mainly for service on the Bicester corridor but also operate elsewhere. 912 was delivered in yellow and acts as a promotional vehicle for the "Bus Points" scheme.

The beginning of 1999 saw all the Dart SLFs 801-829 off to new homes and replaced by MAN 18-220s 913-941. These Saloons with Alexander ALX300 B42F bodywork reintroduce some route branding on City services. 918-931 have blue roofs for service on the 7 group routes, Kidlington to Barton and 932-941 have orange roofs for the Blackbird Leys route. Additionally Volvo B6s 831-834, ex Manchester, now have red roofs for the Rose Hill route.

At the end of September 1998, the company secured the contract to run the Oxford Brookes University services. Initially 514 and 516 were drafted in from Witney to operate on the intersite route numbered 77, and 516 carries small Brookes branding on the front upper deck panels. As a spare for this service, an Alexander bodied Leyland Atlantean AN68 numbered 551, SCN251S, was moved south from Busways and was repainted into corporate livery before coming south on 18th October 1998. In February 1999 three Selkent Olympians arrived on short term loan to operate this service as a temporary expedient, pending the arrival of three similar vehicles converted to single door and repainted in corporate livery. In May and June of 1999, the three Selkent buses were replaced by four ex East London Olympians, 527-530 (ex London L114, 112, 115 and 116).

These Olympians soon left the fleet and most recently a brand new batch of three London Tridents have been loaned in for the 77/77A services. The are presently expected to stay until early 2002.

Apart from several inter fleet transfers with Stagecoach in Warwick, the most significant developments has been the delivery of SEVEN new M A N saloons numbered 942-948. Delivery was affected during October 2001 and 946 is notable as being the bus displayed at The Coach & Bus Show NEC 2001. These buses are entering service on the 1s and replaced Blackbird Flyer liveried M A N s are being repainted for use on other routes including the 3 to Rose Hill. This route is now nominally low floor along with the 1 and 7.

For details of Stagecoach Oxford's services, visit their web site

Stagecoach Oxford Local Bus Fleet Summary

for the coach fleet see Oxford Tube page

Please note this is not an official list; it is based primarily on our own sightings. It was last updated on 12th November 2001 but may not necessarily be correct to that date.

Notes:

TA429/31/33 are on extended loan from Stagecoach London for use on routes 77/77A
Low floor buses 913-48 can seat 42 or 39 with 1 wheelchair plus 28 or 35 standing.
See fleet history for old numbers of 7xx Darts
Mercedes 324 is in use as a service vehicle. Driver Training Vehicles are two ex military dodge Commandos TR1  D935TJO and TR2 G313BJO. 

Allocations
Correct to 12/11/01

Oxford Horspath
310/24, 371-6/82/3,
426/7/56
501/14/6/27
709-14/26-30/51-4/6-8/9/61-4/76/8/9/84/7/8/93-5
838/40-42/4
904-11
913-48
plus
all Oxford Tube coach fleet

Chipping Norton (outstation of Oxford)
Various

Witney
306/7/77-81
453-5/7/8/9/61/2
515/7-26
725-30
912

Liveries:
 

All in old stripy livery except those below now in new corporate livery. (This is of course changing all the time.)
228/42
377/83
514/8/20/1/3/6
710/3/25/7/51/2/4/9/84
904/6/8/13/4/5/38/41/2-8

918-931 have blue roofs added to standard livery, and branding at roof level for the Kidlington-City-Barton route.
933-937/939 have the top half painted orange, with "THE BLACKBIRD Flyer" branding.  They are presently being repainted into the new livery.

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