News from Oxford
High Wycombe & the surrounding areas

updated - Sunday 20th February 2000

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 !

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This weekend, Saturday,  saw me on a mixture with one trip on X70 followed by an unexpected change to a trip into London on X90. Both journeys were rostered for Excaliburs with nr 11 on the Heathrow and nr 8 on the London. One noticeable thing is that Oxford's coaches are correctly limited to 62mph or 100kph with the limiters being most effective. The same cannot be said for numerous coaches who pass on by on the M40, some doing well in excess of the legal limit ! It seems that those from northern origins are the most likely to show an Oxford coach a "clean pair of heels" !!! I should also note that the  Tube M A N s are also strictly limited to 100 kph.

The city was busy on Saturday and the time is fast approaching when the 2000 tourist season will start. This week I have included some photos of visiting coaches, though one of these is from a company who service Oxford on a daily basis, Swanbrook, with services from Gloucester, Tewkesbury and Cheltenham. This company has just taken delivery of three ex Oxford Citylink coaches, 61-63  UJI1761-1763. They have been repainted into a silver livery and 62 looked very smart when I caught up with at "The Green" last Saturday. The older Leyland Tigers including 111. pictured a few weeks ago in these pages, are now considered as reserve vehicles.

Roadworks in Headington continue to cause delays and the work on the southern bypass below Cowley is making life very difficult. 

Buses on the Thames Travel X39 are appearing in some very odd places, coming up from the Station and also entering Oxford via Magdalen Bridge. One wonders if their routing and destination has changed ?

Fleet News week ending 20/2/00

City of Oxford Motor Services.

The buses in works this weekend included 55 almost complete after an extensive overhaul and repaint with Wycombe Bus 237 again in paint. 620, which carries advertising for Laser Quest, Gloucester Green, Oxford,  still alludes my camera and 53 recently completed in X90 livery has not yet received a Citylink vinyl on its front dash panel. 59  is still in service but its days are surely numbered as the work on 50-55 is almost complete. As mentioned above 61-63 have now joined the Swanbrook fleet. 

Details are now known for the forthcoming six Volvo B10BLEs with Wrights Renown bodywork. They are to be 816-821 with booked registration numbers W816-9, 20, 821 FBW. Note that due to DVLAs continuing policy concerning car types (although Rover has long ceased the 820 model !!!!!) 820 will be registered W20FBW. God bless officialdom, since Oxford Bus were obliged to buy this plate !!!!!  Thanks to Philip Kirk, Commercial Director of Oxford Bus, for this information.

Stagecoach Oxford.  

Olympian 517 was operating the City Circle route 10 on Saturday. This bus is nominally allocated to Witney and is normally only seen on the 100. The ex MOD Dodge mentioned last week was TR1. This is a Dodge G13 with Wadham Stringer bodywork, the seating having been much reduced with tables in for classes and its military registration was 92KF96. It is now registered D935TJO. A second TR2 is also in service and details will follow shortly. 

Wycombe Bus Company.

Olympian 237 is in Oxford works for repaint. All Nationals appear to be still in service and Nigel Peach reports that as well as 391(seemingly out of service for sometime now Ed.)  388 and 392 were in the back row in an otherwise almost empty Bus Station last week. On  Wednesday the row was made up of  388 & 390 with 391. He saw  389 come in on route 311 and then change to route 363. 

Arriva serving The Shires.

This company will be most pleased to learn that Cambridge Coach (now part of National Express) will withdraw their 75 service calling at stops between High Wycombe and Oxford. The 75 will run non stop between the two towns, effectively removing public transport from Stokenchurch on Sundays. Otherwise the villages between High Wycombe and Oxford, especially Stokenchurch and West Wycombe will have to rely on the 300 service, which only runs during the daytime. Funny, I thought that we were supposed to see improved country bus services with the new Government transport policy, thank goodness for the motor car!!!!!  The normal fodder of Mercedes minibuses will not encourage passengers who are used to Volvo coaches.  

Cambridge Coach Services.

Service 75 to be withdrawn from serving intermediate stops between Oxford and High Wycombe. See Arriva.

Swanbrook, Cheltenham.

Ex Oxford Citylink Volvos 61-63 UJI1761-1763 have joined this fleet. 

I will be pleased to receive your reports for this section, which I have revamped and hope meets with everyone's' approval. 
Please send your reports to MalcolmHC@aol.com and thank you for all your reports, they are most welcome.

Photo Corner week ending 20/2/00
If anyone else has a digital camera and wishes to submit photos for this page please send them to the above email.

No, not what it seems at first glance. They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery !
Stagecoach Manchester's first  M A N  101, S101TRJ, now carries a livery very familiar to the citizens of Oxford.
This bus operates a route between Stockport and Cheadle Hulme.
When  delivered these buses were in standard corporate livery.

Bus Eireann Volvo B10M/Plaxton bodied VP37 (97-D-780) operates through "The Green"
last Monday evening on the 873 to Dublin. This is a well used service and sees coaches from 
KMP of Llanberis also operating this service.

The mid day National Express 303 service to Southport was operated by this Hamilton coach last Saturday.
T673JBC was well loaded as it departed some 20 minutes late from The Green.
The passengers all looked rather superior, perhaps realising that this was not the usual vehicle for this service.

Resplendent in a new silver livery, ex Citylink Volvo 62 operates the 1745 departure to Gloucester
from The Green last Saturday. 61 will have the same livery whilst 63 is a spare and will normally
be used on private hire.

The M40 provides many interesting buses, including new buses on delivery to London and sometimes
further afield to place such as Hong Kong !!
London Central AVL44 a Volvo B7L with Alexander ALX400 dual door bodywork is seen 
London bound on the M40 near Wheatley on Tuesday last.

Citylink coach 50 is in a different livery to its stable mates and does not show X90 on the rear.
However I almost sure it was finished with X90 vinyls on the rear when it first emerged 
from paint in this livery. If so the change was made very quickly !!

One would never know that 105 was the bus involved in the altercation with the M&S clock
in Queens Lane some months ago now. The repairs to the upper deck offside roof leave no trace
of its adventure. Saturday, when this picture was taken was a beautiful sunny day !

Arriva 5159 makes its way through Oxford centre towards the train station last Saturday.
It is noticeable that these fine buses do not operate in the evenings, when perhaps they
are likely to be vandelised. It is the older Olympians which appear at night !

Stagecoach Manchester 181 (there are over 100 now operating in south Manchester, works 
through Didsbury on an Airport service. The rain was coming down hard at the time.
This makes a comparison to 101 at the beginning of this report !

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 If anyone has any further news please email below.

Malcolmhc@aol.com 

It adds to the interest of the page which I'm sure everyone appreciates.

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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