OXFORD'S TOUR BUSES

In late May Guide Friday was acquired by Ensign Bus controlled CitySightseeing who will now seemingly have a monopoly in Oxford. At the time of writing there were no obvious changes to the two original operations (12 June 2002).

Guide Friday

Oxford is home to two open-top tour bus operations. The first of these to arrive was "The Oxford Tour" run by Guide Friday, who are based in Stratford and run tours in most major tourist centres. The fleet relies heavily on former Nottingham Standard Atlanteans and Fleetlines, which also operate in large numbers on many other Guide Friday tours. They are currently supplemented by two other Atlanteans. The first, MPT 314P, with ECW body, was new to Northern General and is one of 14 of the batch latterly operated by COMS. The second is former LCBS example KPJ 258W, notable as the only example of Park Royal bodywork now operating in a city which once relied so heavily on the products of this London coachbuilder.

Open-top Atlantean STK124T is typical of the numerous Leyland Atlanteans
used by Guide Friday in tourist towns and cities across Britain.

MAU614P, ex Nottingham displays the last GF livery.

A total of six (five Atlanteans and a Fleetline) are part of the Oxford fleet. Naturally, in a tourist-based operation such as this, a significant reduction in service and therefore fleet strength occurs over the winter months; as a result a number of vehicles are stored during the winter to reappear the following year. 

A livery change occurred in mid 2000 and can be seen here on an ex Plymouth Atlantean STK124T.

Guide Friday Fleet Summary

312	GTO 335N	Leyland Atlantean	East Lancs O47/34F
318	OTO 549M	Leyland Atlantean	East Lancs O47/32F
319	JAL 876N	Leyland Atlantean	East Lancs O47/33F
323	UTV 217S	Leyland Fleetline	Northern Counties O47/31F
	MAU 614P	Leyland Atlantean	East Lancs O47/32D
	STK124T	Leyland Atlantean	Park Royal O??/??F
	BAU 676T	Leyland Atlantean	Northern Counties O47/31D
	KPJ 258W	Leyland Atlantean	Park Royal O??/??F

All Guide Friday buses carry a tour guide who provides a live commentary in English. On most buses this is broadcast to the passengers by loudspeakers. However, two vehicles (OTO 549M and UTV 217S) are additionally provided with recorded commentaries in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese; on these vehicles all passengers wear a headphone set (provided on boarding) and use a switch to choose between the live commentary and the recorded foreign language commentaries. The multilingual vehicles can be identified by images of foreign flags on the front and rear of the vehicle. Generally at least one multilingual vehicle is in use at all times to cater for non-English speaking visitors.

The Oxford Classic Tour

The other operator of tour buses is Lothian Regional Transport, who set up the "Oxford Classic Tour" in response to Guide Friday's introduction of an Edinburgh tour. The vehicles, painted white and blue, are Leyland Atlanteans originally from Lothian's own fleet, such as BFS 49L seen here approaching the end of South Parks Road, near the Radcliffe Science Library. The operation is run in partnership with two local independent operators, Tappins and Heyfordian. The original fleet of six 1973 Atlanteans, all named, was supplemented by a newer example, which differed from the older vehicles in that it retained the front half of its roof. 

During the late part of July 2000, the whole fleet was replaced by ex Lothian Olympians dating from 1988. These Leylands were converted to single door before coming south. Most of the oldest Atlanteans were then withdrawn.

During spring 2002 the Oxford Classic Tour donned the livery of City sightseeing and 303 was the first bus to be given this livery style.

Oxford Classic Tour Fleet Summary

OXFORD BUS PAGE CONTENTS