History & Fleet details
(provided by The Oxford Bus Page)

updated Tuesday August 20, 2002

The origins of express coach services between Oxford and London can be traced back to 1919, when a William Beesley founded the South Midland Touring & Transport Company. Another contender, Varsity Express Motors Ltd, may have been formed about the same time. Beesley operated excursions and in 1924 was offering day trips to the Empire Exhibition in London. It was on February 6th 1928 that Beesley started a regular service from Oxford to London. The service left St Aldates at 0830 and arrived at Marble Arch at 1130. A return service left Marble Arch at 1830 arriving in Oxford at 2130. The return fare was 50p (10/- in those days was a lot of money when a manual worker only earned £3.2s 9d  or £3.14  per week) and the single fare was 32.5p (6/6d). The vehicle used was a 25seat Lancia Saloon with bodywork by Weymann. It had wicker seats, individual lights and two doors. The service ran via Dorchester and Henley.

In 1929 three services a day were being operated and Gilford Saloons with Allen & Crombie bodies were in use. A new garage was brought into use in Iffley Road where up to 25 vehicles could be housed. During 1930 the Varsity Express Motor Company started a regular service to London but this one was routed via High Wycombe and Uxbridge.  Needless to say this produced competition between the two companies for traffic between Oxford and London.

By 1933, South Midland was operating seven return departures every weekday and five on Sundays. The single fare had risen to 5/-d single (25p), 7/-d (35p) day return and 8/6d (42.5p) period return. Around this time Varsity became part of the Eastern Counties company based in Norwich, which was within the Tilling Group. Nine return journeys via High Wycombe were operated with six on Sundays. Services of both companies now terminated at Gloucester Green coach station in Oxford. The control of Varsity passed to United Counties in Northampton in 1934 still using the trading name of Varsity Express. 

The services continued to run up to 1943, during the war years, when fuel rationing restrictions led to the cessation of all coach services. In 1945 South Midland staff and vehicles were acquired by Red & White based in Chepstow. So control of the two services was by this time from a good distance away.

In 1946 both operators resumed operations with fare levels of 5/6 (27.5p) single, 7/- (35p) day return and 10/- (50p) period return. Schedules were similar and some new coaches were introduced by the end of the '40s.

1950 saw South Midland control pass to Thames Valley at Reading as state ownership spread. 29 vehicles were transferred and Bristol L coaches with Windover bodies were introduced. In 1952 control of Varsity passed from United Counties to Thames Valley and amalgamation with South midland followed. A new garage in the Botley Road was opened and the fleet expanded to 45 coaches in total.

Steady development through the fifties took place and a two hourly interval service was established. Coaches left Oxford on the odd hours via Dorchester and Henley as route C, with service on the High Wycombe, Uxbridge route departing every even hour as route D.

The National Bus Company came into existence in 1968 and on  January 1st 1971 control of South Midland passed to The City of Oxford Motor Services. 34 vehicles were transferred including Bristols and some lightweight Bedfords. On May 30th services were recast, integrating them with local services to produce new Limited Stop services. Pre booking was superseded by 'pay as you enter' facilities and the routes changed to operate as follows :

30   Oxford - Wallingford - Henley - Maidenhead - London (Victoria)

70   Oxford - High Wycombe - Uxbridge - London (Victoria)

A new fleet name "Oxford South Midland" was adopted and also a revised fleet livery. In 1972-3 traffic increased and it was often required to operate Bristol VR double-deck semi-coaches on relief services which by now had begun to use the newly opened M40 motorway. 1975 saw the renumbering of the routes as follows - 30 to 390 and 70 to 290. Bristol RE semi coaches were now in use and are fondly remembered by those who used the services. These were warm and very fast 'coaches', making short work of the long climbs, especially on the Chiltern sections of the 290.

1977 marked the introduction of specific journeys via the M40 using the service number 190, new Leyland Leopard/Duple 49 seat coaches being purchased for this purpose. We seem to remember that the service number 190 also related to the fact that the cost of a day return was £1.90 upon introduction.

Further Leopards were introduced during the '80s and a highlight of this period was in 1985, when the first MCW Metroliners were introduced seating 76 in full coach comfort. The fleet of double deck coaches eventually totalled 8 and they gave good service for the next 10 years or so. Indeed these types could said to have been the 'swan song' of the National Bus Company, since by 1988 the break up and privatisation had commenced. It was not until 1987 that Oxford was purchased by its management and by now a mixed fleet of Leopards, Tigers, DAFs and Dennis Javelins were maintaining the London services. Additionally Airport services were also being operated with first Leyland Tigers with Plaxton Paramount 3500 being used, later replaced by 10 DAFs with similar bodywork.

1998 saw the 70th Anniversary of the London services and the use of a much standardised fleet of Volvo B10M's in use. Bodywork is mainly Plaxton, though four second hand Jonckheere bodied Volvo's joined the fleet early in 1998. The main improvements have been air conditioning, reclining seats and seat belts. Journey times are two hours and coaches run on all services 24 hour per day. Weekday services run every 20 minutes from 0440 with a 15 minute service during the peaks. During the night hours there is a 30 minute service, a far cry from the 3 times per day service in 1929 ! Prices, by comparison are much cheaper with a day return being just £7. Although this is 20 times more expensive than 70 years ago, the average manual wage is now around £200 which is some 60 times greater than all those years ago. Thus excellent value for money is provided. Services operated on a 24 hour basis are:

X70   Oxford - London (Heathrow Airport)

X80   Oxford - London (Gatwick Airport)

X90   Oxford - London (Victoria Coach Station)

plus one return journey on

X91   Oxford - London (Aldgate) - City Commuter Coach (ceased operation during 2000)

September 1999 saw the delivery of five new Volvo / Plaxton Excaliburs for use on the airport services. 50-55 have thus been cascaded to the X90 and the five ex Shearings Volvos withdrawn for sale. 50 has been painted in an advertising livery for Victoria Coach Station VCS.

The biggest change for a number of years occurred in March 2000, when on the 23rd of the month the Citylink identity was swept away by a new image, the Oxford express. It was felt that there was alack of a link to Oxford in the fleet and this change has rectified that omission. Four new coaches joined the fleet in March and April, once again being Volvos with Plaxton Excalibur bodywork. fleet numbers 19-22 were allocated and they are W registered. They enable the Gatwick service to be operated hourly and bring the total coaching fleet to 34. 

The Gatwick service became and hourly service between 4am and 8pm each day effective 21st May 2000, reflecting the increase in the number of passengers using this service. Indeed from a point to point view, Oxford probably operates the most intensive airport service in the U.K. 

Following a serious accident on the M40 in November 2000, the coach involved nr 56 was withdrawn and replaced by the return to service of ex Shearings 59. This coach remained until the delivery of new coaches in the Spring of 2001. Six arrived for airport services, when older Excaliburs were cascaded to the London services, numbers 9-12 plus 14 and 15 which gained multi role lettering.  Service reductions also took place in November 2000 when the X91 Aldgate service was withdrawn and some evening and overnight journeys were also withdrawn. Rescheduling also allowed the reduction of the X90 fleet by one coach, nr 52 which was sold to an operator in Ireland leaving Oxford on 17/11/00.

The week ending 3rd February saw coach nr 8 emerge in VCS livery. This replaces nr 50 which was sold in March.

All the remainder of the batch 50-55 were sold in March 2001, with 3 going to Worth's of Enstone and 3 to an Irish operator. 59 also went to Ireland to join 52, 53 and 55. 

Coach 56 , damaged as mentioned above returned to Oxford on February 1st and was sold in April 2001 to an Irish operator.

During the Autumn of 2001 coach 14 was fitted with a new high level destination screen to help with its role as a dual role coach for either airport or X90 service. Coach 15 was due to follow suit but had not been so fitted by August 2002. Coaches 16 and 17 followed with re-branding to Oxford express during early April 2002.

With the older coaches, 41-44 and 57 and 58 nearing the end of their time with Oxford, a new order was placed towards the end of 2001 for a batch of six new coaches. These are on the latest Volvo chassis , the B12B and have Jonckheere coachwork with 46 seats and for the first time in the Oxford fleet, toilets. They are for the Gatwick airport services and introduce a new branding called The Airline. Each coach has a slogan on the rear to advertise the service. Coach 33 inaugurated the new service with the midnight on 12th April followed by 31 on the 0200.

To supplement these coaches with toilets Volvos 27 and 28 were sent to Plaxton for fitment of a toilet and a subsequent reduction in seating to 49. 28 re-entered service on the 15th March 2002 followed shortly thereafter by 27. 

Due to post delivery rectification work, Volvo provided a loan coach during June 2002 and this was used on the X80 Gatwick service. The coach was in a white livery with Oxford express logos and X80, a la X90 style, on the front windscreen. Fleet number was 39.

On July 1st a Scania/Irizar YE02XED arrived for two weeks trial from Scania. It was in a similar style to the Volvo B12M mentioned above and was to be used on the X70. Fleet number was 38.

Two Volvo coaches, one in the older livery and one in the new Airline livery pick up at Queens Lane, Oxford

The new livery for The Airline includes a travel related vinyl on the rear of each coach.
Here 28, a repainted older Volvo proclaims "time travel"

We give below the fleet as it is today and updates are made on a regular basis.

Last updated    :    20/08/02 14:11
click on the fleet number where there is a link for a photo of that coach

 COACHES 29-34 ENTERED SERVICE ON APRIL 12 2002 with 33 operating the Midnight Gatwick service.
Coaches 27 and 28 will shortly be repainted in The Airline livery and over the course of time all
coaches used on Airport X70 and X80 services will be so painted.

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To view the other fleet details follow the link

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