All of the main Thames Travel services (i.e. excluding the BB-prefixed school routes and the OX-prefixed football specials)
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Oxford Bus Company/Thames Travel
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Falcon1200
Established Member
Although many (but not all) of the buses that operate the route are in Pulhams colours!
Picking a random day last week on bustimes.org all vehicles on the H2 were TT registered despite 2 still carrying Pulhams branding so getting a TT ticket was correct
I passed through Slough today and it was strange to see Didcot ‘connector’ liveried buses. They do carry Carousel legals though so I imagine will be repainted red in due course
I say strange, First have got buses in Slough still in Solent livery still with full branding, so Carousel aren’t the only ones
On one hand it’s good that they’ve done a single booklet for all their services
On the other hand it’s clearly been cost controlled. It’s printed on buff paper rather than glossy paper. The previous Harwell and Milton Park timetables were issued in the respective house colours of these business parks, on glossy paper, that matched the vehicles and contained various maps showing stops in local towns and the business parks
They could possibly have kept those guides and just done a smaller Thames Travel timetable for services 41, 44, 63, 91, 92, 94, 95, 134 & 136
LW84
Member
Looks like the major changes are coming to OBC (and a lesser extent for TT) from 9th November.
www.oxfordbus.co.uk
Free bus travel via Park & Ride network among raft of major improvements
Bus travel via the Park & Ride network has been made free among a raft of major improvements
www.oxfordbus.co.uk
At the moment there are separate parking only and parking + bus options. I do wonder if this isn't a disguised way to abolish the current parking only rate.Looks like the major changes are coming to OBC (and a lesser extent for TT) from 9th November.
Free bus travel via Park & Ride network among raft of major improvements
Bus travel via the Park & Ride network has been made free among a raft of major improvements
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Falcon1200
Established Member
The Free Bus Travel is only for those who have paid to park; If you are lucky enough to live within walking distance of a terminus you still have to pay! Also from intermediate stops, of course.
The frequency improvements to the 700 are most welcome.
The frequency improvements to the 700 are most welcome.
Parebunks
Member
It's an interesting set of changes! Some comments:
- Not sure where the 3/3A go at the station with the truncated 400 still occupying a stand, I'd imagine some taxis will have to move.
- The 20 is an interesting idea and I can see it being quite successful, but a 40 minute frequency isn't ideal and does make it harder to remember. Hard to say without seeing the exact route, but I wonder if it could better run at every 30 mins by omitting Marston Road and/or going up Headington Hill rather than Morrell Avenue.
- Unconvinced by the changes to the 100. Cowley Road is mostly fine with the current frequency, and especially with the addition of Wood Farm it seems like fairly direct competition with Stagecoach on the 10.
- Similarly I wonder if JR-Cowley is now perhaps over-bussed. If the 600 also increases to 3bph as previously mooted that's 14bph on 4 different routings (10, 100, 600, 700), which is confusing for passengers and in my experience somewhat above demand, as well as a bit of a slog regardless of route taken. I'd perhaps remove the 600 from the corridor entirely, and run it fast around the bypass JR-Thornhill-BMW-Science Park-Redbridge, then remove the 100 from Cowley Road and send it to Redbridge via Florence Park, as well as keeping it on the same route as the 700.
- It's a shame the opportunity hasn't been taken to reintroduce the Risinghurst 9 or the Marston 13, both victims of congestion now folded in to the long and unwieldy 14. Perhaps an issue with the 14 being a Council contract and room for improvement in the future?
Hard to say whether the congestion charge will be enough to actually make a difference, I suspect this might be over-optimistic but will have to wait and see. And of course also interesting to see what Stagecoach may decide to do.
- Not sure where the 3/3A go at the station with the truncated 400 still occupying a stand, I'd imagine some taxis will have to move.
- The 20 is an interesting idea and I can see it being quite successful, but a 40 minute frequency isn't ideal and does make it harder to remember. Hard to say without seeing the exact route, but I wonder if it could better run at every 30 mins by omitting Marston Road and/or going up Headington Hill rather than Morrell Avenue.
- Unconvinced by the changes to the 100. Cowley Road is mostly fine with the current frequency, and especially with the addition of Wood Farm it seems like fairly direct competition with Stagecoach on the 10.
- Similarly I wonder if JR-Cowley is now perhaps over-bussed. If the 600 also increases to 3bph as previously mooted that's 14bph on 4 different routings (10, 100, 600, 700), which is confusing for passengers and in my experience somewhat above demand, as well as a bit of a slog regardless of route taken. I'd perhaps remove the 600 from the corridor entirely, and run it fast around the bypass JR-Thornhill-BMW-Science Park-Redbridge, then remove the 100 from Cowley Road and send it to Redbridge via Florence Park, as well as keeping it on the same route as the 700.
- It's a shame the opportunity hasn't been taken to reintroduce the Risinghurst 9 or the Marston 13, both victims of congestion now folded in to the long and unwieldy 14. Perhaps an issue with the 14 being a Council contract and room for improvement in the future?
Hard to say whether the congestion charge will be enough to actually make a difference, I suspect this might be over-optimistic but will have to wait and see. And of course also interesting to see what Stagecoach may decide to do.
Falcon1200
Established Member
The removal of the 13 left only a 20 minute interval service on the Marston Road/City Centre route, a fraction of what other routes into the city have.
LW84
Member
Regarding the 13 as-was, I'd imagine that something may be 'unwound' by Oxfordshire County Council when the current Stagecoach tender for JR-Risinghurst section of route 14 is up for renewal. This started in January 2023, so may hear something about that soon. Slightly less certain about any return of the 9 (Risinghurst-Oxford via Headington) though.
I agree that the new-look route 100 (along with the U5 removal) does look like an active attempt to take on the Stagecoach 10, leaving just locations line-of-route from Templar's Sq and Horspath Road (west) as USP to the 10. Over-provision does seem to be a possible concern in that area.
The return of route 20 ... long-removed from when it served Tesco (Oxford Retail Park) and Unipart! Interesting move to send that through to the JR too.
Rose Hill / Iffley Road amendments... with hindsight, it now seems to partially explain why the decision was made to re-route the X40 (Reading) back to Abingdon Road recently. Some amusement in some circles online as to where 'credit' goes for the 3/3A returning to Oxford Railway Station though. I'd imagine that will go alongside the S3 (C Norton/Charlbury) in the forecourt? Clearly cannot go where it did previously with the 400 using that bay.
Looks like we're back to two routes around Blackbird Leys terminus too. (SC 1 / OBC 5 as-is, 700 via the college)
Wolvercote (route 6) has done fairly well despite the end of developer funding to retain weekday service levels and a minor reduction on Saturday.
Barton via Headington (route 8) ... seems a sensible change on Saturdays by both operators to drop back on frequency. The corridor seems to be largely dominated (London Road) by flow on the 400 on that day.
Interesting that the P&R 300 cross-city has had stops added to it in daytime, albeit then standardised throughout. There was something to be said about express routing, but only 4 stops will now be missed City-Pear Tree.
Also agree that we await public response from Stagecoach West (Oxfordshire), that should appear very soon, but I'd imagine less significant moves for now.
I agree that the new-look route 100 (along with the U5 removal) does look like an active attempt to take on the Stagecoach 10, leaving just locations line-of-route from Templar's Sq and Horspath Road (west) as USP to the 10. Over-provision does seem to be a possible concern in that area.
The return of route 20 ... long-removed from when it served Tesco (Oxford Retail Park) and Unipart! Interesting move to send that through to the JR too.
Rose Hill / Iffley Road amendments... with hindsight, it now seems to partially explain why the decision was made to re-route the X40 (Reading) back to Abingdon Road recently. Some amusement in some circles online as to where 'credit' goes for the 3/3A returning to Oxford Railway Station though. I'd imagine that will go alongside the S3 (C Norton/Charlbury) in the forecourt? Clearly cannot go where it did previously with the 400 using that bay.
Looks like we're back to two routes around Blackbird Leys terminus too. (SC 1 / OBC 5 as-is, 700 via the college)
Wolvercote (route 6) has done fairly well despite the end of developer funding to retain weekday service levels and a minor reduction on Saturday.
Barton via Headington (route 8) ... seems a sensible change on Saturdays by both operators to drop back on frequency. The corridor seems to be largely dominated (London Road) by flow on the 400 on that day.
Interesting that the P&R 300 cross-city has had stops added to it in daytime, albeit then standardised throughout. There was something to be said about express routing, but only 4 stops will now be missed City-Pear Tree.
Also agree that we await public response from Stagecoach West (Oxfordshire), that should appear very soon, but I'd imagine less significant moves for now.
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Mitchell Hurd
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No change to the X1 or X15 I see. I wish the X1 could go half hourly again and the X15 revert to being just Abingdon - Witney so it doesn't have to avoid Oxford!Looks like the major changes are coming to OBC (and a lesser extent for TT) from 9th November.
Free bus travel via Park & Ride network among raft of major improvements
Bus travel via the Park & Ride network has been made free among a raft of major improvements
LW84
Member
I think the issue with Frilford-Wantage was the provision provided near like-for-like by SC S9 (albeit not quite identical), 5bph along the A338 to East Hanney did seem a bit much?
I wonder if linking Millets Farm Centre on a through route to Oxford City (X15) has actually added any custom, as it does seem rather sparsely used whenever I'm in that area! Might yet change in some way.
Parebunks
Member
More information now online, with various maps on the OBC website and timetables on bustimes.org.
This includes a map of the new city centre/station stopping arrangements, which particularly at the station seem quite odd. The 3/3A are listed as using the R6 stop currently used by citysightseeing, but the 400 is also down as moving to this stop from its current R1. This has 14bph starting from this one stop even if citysightseeing does move, higher than the 1/5 on R2 where excessive usage already leads to tailbacks or buses waiting time on Park End Street. Perhaps a sign that Stagecoach will be using R1/R4/R5 for something? But either way I am rather skeptical of the station forecourt's ability to accommodate this volume of use.
Another oddity is the routing for the 20, which uses the former term-time Marston loop of the 100. This brings two parts of the route very close together at South Park, to the point where I can see basically no use for JR-Iffley Road trips - it will almost always be quicker to get off at Marston Road and walk over to Iffley Road for the 3/3A. The timetable is also bizarre, with the 40 minute frequency seemingly completely out of step with the Cheney school times that could have been the most significant source of traffic.
This includes a map of the new city centre/station stopping arrangements, which particularly at the station seem quite odd. The 3/3A are listed as using the R6 stop currently used by citysightseeing, but the 400 is also down as moving to this stop from its current R1. This has 14bph starting from this one stop even if citysightseeing does move, higher than the 1/5 on R2 where excessive usage already leads to tailbacks or buses waiting time on Park End Street. Perhaps a sign that Stagecoach will be using R1/R4/R5 for something? But either way I am rather skeptical of the station forecourt's ability to accommodate this volume of use.
Another oddity is the routing for the 20, which uses the former term-time Marston loop of the 100. This brings two parts of the route very close together at South Park, to the point where I can see basically no use for JR-Iffley Road trips - it will almost always be quicker to get off at Marston Road and walk over to Iffley Road for the 3/3A. The timetable is also bizarre, with the 40 minute frequency seemingly completely out of step with the Cheney school times that could have been the most significant source of traffic.
I’ve read elsewhere that Oxford are due some extra Wrightbus GB Kite single decks this year
Does anyone know what their intended use will be, as the existing ones don’t seem to have a substantial purpose. They seemed to be mostly used mixed in with double deckers on the 500 depot shuttle
Does anyone know what their intended use will be, as the existing ones don’t seem to have a substantial purpose. They seemed to be mostly used mixed in with double deckers on the 500 depot shuttle
I’ve seen single deckers previously on routes 6 and 15. My recent trips on the 500 it’s been 50:50 whether it’s a normal bus or one of the city sightseeing open top buses.
Mitchell Hurd
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Wasn't there an E400EV registered GA74 ZEB on trial in Oxford with something on the side saying 29 new electric buses?
I've just seen a Facebook post (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1353624400123863&set=a.413567567462889) from Coach and Bus Week suggesting some are due for Pulhams.
aswilliamsuk
Member
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- 10 Jul 2016
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- 527
That was from it's time in Brighton, who are due 29 StreetDeck Electroliners.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Pulhams are due four 10.2m GB Kites, four longer GB Kites and seven StreetDeck Electroliners (some of which are now registered).
Oxford are now separately due nine more GB Kites and four ADL Enviro 100EVs, which were announced more recently.
I think that's called putting 2 and 2 together and making 4.5! Thanks for the correction!
Mark L
Member
I believe that the additional Kites for Oxford were originally destined for Salisbury but ended up being the wrong length. It’ll be worth checking to see if they have GSC moquette.
WRT extra singledecker buses, The Clarion reports: https://oxfordclarion.uk/the-clarion-31-march-2026/
Mitchell Hurd
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I've not read any information as regards new diesel buses but Oxford Bus Company have used a new red YX26-plate E400 MMC (private hire-spec) on the Oxford - Abingdon - Witney X15 very recently. The latest Spottings and Jottings (Oxford & Chiltern Bus page) shows that.
Apparently these are for the interurban / X routes.
Also according to Bus Times, all X1's on the 3rd and 4th 2-3 days ago were operated by Wright Electrics but back to StreetDecks yesterday and presumably today.
Apparently these are for the interurban / X routes.
Also according to Bus Times, all X1's on the 3rd and 4th 2-3 days ago were operated by Wright Electrics but back to StreetDecks yesterday and presumably today.
aswilliamsuk
Member
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There appears to be four E400 MMC - 631-34. With the emphasis on electric at Oxford now they seem to be surprising arrivals, but perhaps will help with vehicle shortages elsewhere in the group, at least indirectly.
Parebunks
Member
OBC seem to have, similarly to Stagecoach, registered their service changes for the reopening of Botley Road before the delay to 20th September was announced. Slightly easier to get a sense of the broad strokes from these than with Stagecoach, key points to me look as follows:
- 4A and 14 (currently Stagecoach) merged as 4, Elms Rise-City-Marston-Risinghurst
- 400 back to Seacourt
- 6 extended to Abingdon on 35 route
- Changes to 600, 5A, 11, 15, 33, X2, X3, X32, X36, presumably mostly timetable-only or otherwise minor
- Something strange going on with the X35, which is down as Didcot-Abingdon via Harwell and Wantage
- X1/X15 seem to lose station extension, not sure if this is replaced
- 44, 63 obviously back to centre, 44 transferred to OBC
- Bicester 21 transferred to TT
Also of note, all of Pulhams' Witney services bar the X52 are being transferred to Thames Travel from 30th August, and the afternoon gaps in the X9 timetable are filled in. Saw it suggested in a Facebook comment in the 'Oxford Bus Group Enthusiasts' group that several Pulhams Evoras will tranfer to TT for this but can't share as the group is private, apologies.
- 4A and 14 (currently Stagecoach) merged as 4, Elms Rise-City-Marston-Risinghurst
- 400 back to Seacourt
- 6 extended to Abingdon on 35 route
- Changes to 600, 5A, 11, 15, 33, X2, X3, X32, X36, presumably mostly timetable-only or otherwise minor
- Something strange going on with the X35, which is down as Didcot-Abingdon via Harwell and Wantage
- X1/X15 seem to lose station extension, not sure if this is replaced
- 44, 63 obviously back to centre, 44 transferred to OBC
- Bicester 21 transferred to TT
Also of note, all of Pulhams' Witney services bar the X52 are being transferred to Thames Travel from 30th August, and the afternoon gaps in the X9 timetable are filled in. Saw it suggested in a Facebook comment in the 'Oxford Bus Group Enthusiasts' group that several Pulhams Evoras will tranfer to TT for this but can't share as the group is private, apologies.
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Mark L
Member
I’m pretty certain these were dealer stock so your assessment is probably right and they were a relatively last minute acquisition. I’m sure one day the vehicle situation with Go Thames Valley will stabilise!
Mitchell Hurd
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That explains their private hire-spec interiors, at least I've not far to wait for one compared to a rare trip out with a coach operator.
Where's this about the X1 and X15? There's nothing said about the station extension no longer happening.
If it was up to me, I'd allocate 80631-34 and the ex-Brookes 8037x Wright StreetDecks onto the X3 - there's a combination of seat belts (handy if something happened on the A34) plus I believe the 8037x Wright's are 82-seaters whether as the 80631-34 are 85 seaters.
It would be nice to not have mixed vehicles on the diesel routes. If the X32 and X40 is mostly capable of it then the X routes are.
Parebunks
Member
The start is now given as 'Norfolk Street, Oxford City Centre', whereas it's currently 'Oxford City Centre, Railway Station'.
goldisgood
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Looks like a new livery is on the way for at least some of the Evoras? 80809 spotted this morning repainted in an orange and cream base