News from Oxford
High Wycombe & the surrounding areas

update Sunday 5th September 1999 by Malcolm Crowe

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.

A sunny September Saturday brought out the tourists and the open toppers did a roaring trade ! Following trials reported recently in these pages, Oxford Bus are now preparing 10 second hand London General Darts for service in Wycombe.   Stagecoach surprised everyone with a double decker on route 3 even though their second hand Olympians have gone to Midland Red. Full details below. 

New to Oxford operator, Thames Travel, seem to be making a success of the X39 which from personal observations was running to time on Saturday last. 

Oxford Citylink 17 arrived last Friday and is seen here being prepared for service at Cowley Road Garage. All five were in service by Saturday last, as predicted in these columns !

Ex Shearings' Plaxtons , 60-62 have been withdrawn but it appears that 59 and 63 will remain in service to cover for the rebranding of the 50-55 batch, now scheduled to go to the X90 service. 55 is already in works for attention and 51 was working the X90 on Saturday. 

Above we see the face of Oxford Cityline, September '99 style, with a Wrights Dart, 404 passing a Volvo B10B on the 2 road with a new Volvo Wright on 52 road following the Dart. 

Whilst the very large X90 lettering on the front of Oxford's Citylink fleet operating that service may not please all,  when a windscreen is replaced and that X90 disappears, it does look bare! Also it becomes more difficult for intending passengers. Normally Oxford Bus are very quick to rectify such omissions. however 44 has so far escaped the attentions of the vinyl sticking team and is seen at Cowley Road between duties.

Some of you are aware that an Oxford Dart suffered some fire damage last week whilst in service on the 51. Investigations are in hand by the manufacturers and Oxford Bus to determine the cause but the bus will be repaired and returned to service, so the damage was not too bad. The bus involved, for those who asked or wanted to know was 501.

For those who may have missed last weeks News Page, the year 2000 Oxford Bus vehicle order details have also been released. 6 more Volvo B10BLE saloons with Wright Renown body work have been ordered and should be 816-820. 7 additional Trident/Alexander deckers will join the current 20 as 121-127 and finally a further 4 Volvo/Plaxton Excaliburs will arrive as 19-22. These coaches are required to provide additional capacity when the X80 becomes hourly from next Summer. 

As mentioned above, Stagecoach operated a decker all day last Saturday on route 3. They also had M A N s 914 and 917 on the service with only two low floor Volvo B6s 832 and 833. The use of a non low floor bus on this route caused a lot of passenger frustration and I saw one lady with a pram have to wait nearly 30 minutes for a low floor bus to get her buggy with child onto at Rose Hill. She was not impressed ! The main reason was due to crew breaks and the only bus operating for a time was 524 ! 

Now that the 105 Oxford-Wallingford service has gone to a half hourly frequency, Stagecoach have been using repainted Volvo B6s which have been repainted in house at Oxford. They are very smartly turned out as can be seen as 841 runs down the High towards the Magdalen Bridge on an afternoon working last Saturday. 

The Tube is now fully worked by M A N double deck coaches and all have received contra vision vinyls where the livery covers the windows. Here we see 44 on an early afternoon London departure. Last Saturday both companies operating the London service saw good loadings on most departures.

The exceptionally fine and warm weather meant good trade for the open top tour buses and here we see BFS34L with a full upper deck an tourists enjoying the sight of the City of Dreaming Spires ! It is noticeable that the wheels had been cleaned and looked very smart. Isn't interesting how a vehicle looks much better with clean wheels ?

First details of the ten Dennis Darts from London General for Wycombe are to hand. They are as follows:

ex DW class Dennis Dart 8.5SDL3003 with Wright Handybus bodywork seating 30.

It seems likely that they will be 521-530 in the order given above but as always, we don't like to guess and only those noted have fleet numbers allocated. They are to be fully refurbished and retrimmed, gaining one piece windscreen and should look very smart when completed. 522 and 524 are presently in works at Oxford.  They are expected to replace the Leyland Nationals and some Mercedes buses.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday sees St Giles Fair when that are is closed to all traffic. Rerouting and extra services are the order of the day, so it should prove interesting if you can get into the City. 

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You can still view 
the Tube launch report  
and 
the Oxford Bus P&R Trident launch - Dateline Tuesday June 1st 1999  
Click above

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THE OXFORD BUS MUSEUM