Will the Oxford "Airline" Birmingham launch help ease XC overcrowding?

[OwlMan]

Obviously not a success - service being withdrawn

https://airline.oxfordbus.co.uk/news-service-updates/birmingham-withdrawal/

We regret to inform you that the airline service from Oxford to Warwick, Warwick University, Birmingham Airport and Resorts World will be ceasing to operate at the end of service on Saturday, March 25th.

Despite a number of marketing initiatives and the support of many partners, the service has not carried enough passengers to cover its costs of operation and this has resulted in an unsustainable loss for our business. We have also looked at a number of possible options to retain the service, but have unfortunately come to the conclusion that these are not financially viable for us and so were left but with no option but to take the difficult decision to withdraw the service.....

 

[dk1]

No real competition for XC anyway. Another one bites the dust.

 

[embers25]

Obviously not a success - service being withdrawn

https://airline.oxfordbus.co.uk/news-service-updates/birmingham-withdrawal/

Interesting that, by contrast, Stagecoach are giving Falcon 2 years at least to break even.

 

[ainsworth74]

Interesting that, by contrast, Stagecoach are giving Falcon 2 years at least to break even.

Deeper pockets so able to sustain a loss making enterprise for longer during its start up period?

 

[W-on-Sea]

I'm not that surprised this has been a flop. The service wasn't so frequent to be effectively "turn up and go", as the Heathrow (and to a lesser extent the Gatwick) services from Oxford are; and then the specific geography of Oxford comes into play, too: the Heathrow and Gatwick services have the advantage of running through some of the major residential areas of the city, which are fairly remote from the railway station (as do the Oxford Tube and its OBC equivalent) en route to their destinations: none of these plusses applied to the Birmingham service - even before considering that Birmingham airport is not quite the attractor of traffic that Heathrow, particularly, is.

Perhaps OBC will try a Luton service, though, to compete with NX....

 

[D1009]

No real competition for XC anyway. Another one bites the dust.

So it's impossible for a coach operator to compete with the luxurious trains and low fares offered by XC?

 

[dk1]

So it's impossible for a coach operator to compete with the luxurious trains and low fares offered by XC?

In my opinion most defiantly. A Voyager is positively Pullman compared to a road coach. Quick journey & half hourly frequency day in day out is worth every penny.

 

[JamesT]

In my opinion most defiantly. A Voyager is positively Pullman compared to a road coach. Quick journey & half hourly frequency day in day out is worth every penny.

Only half the XC trains through Oxford stop at International, so an hourly frequency.

 

[Richard_B]

Unless you have a dramatic fear of transfers at New St it's faster to go there and change than wait for the next direct however

 

[FenMan]

There was. Weekly return flight to each of Beijing and Shanghai (which would hardly be much custom for a regular coach service). Due to start next month.

However the airline pulled out 3 weeks ago.

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/...ham-airport-to-china-cancelled-in-shock-move/


Re the coach - a service every 2 hrs with say 60 seats is not going to make much of a dent in the 400+ seats per hour that XC provide.

But Oxford - Brimingham International is hourly, so XC provide 200 seats an hour.

 

[pitdiver]

National Express had a similar issue in 2015.They started a service between Canterbury and Gatwick which was also discontinued it appeared to have operated from December 2015 to July 2016. Obviously coach services to and from Airports can be costly and not always commercially sucessful.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Interesting that, by contrast, Stagecoach are giving Falcon 2 years at least to break even.

But if Falcon numbers weren't on an upward trajectory, and losses weren't reducing, Stagecoach would bin it sooner. They've done it before.

If OBC could see numbers rising, I'm sure it'd be different. It's not like Go don't have deep pockets.

 

[JonasB]

So it's impossible for a coach operator to compete with the luxurious trains and low fares offered by XC?

Sounds reasonable. When I visited Oxford last year I flew to Heathrow, then took the coach to Oxford, but returned from Birmingham and took the train to the airport.

In my opinion, the train was a better way to travel. The coach had more comfortable seats and was less noisy, but a train on well maintained track will offer a smoother ride than a bus, and that is something I appreciate a lot. The train could have had some more luggage space though.

 

[dk1]

Only half the XC trains through Oxford stop at International, so an hourly frequency.

Even with that XC & trains are far superior.

 

[dk1]

Sounds reasonable. When I visited Oxford last year I flew to Heathrow, then took the coach to Oxford, but returned from Birmingham and took the train to the airport.

In my opinion, the train was a better way to travel. The coach had more comfortable seats and was less noisy, but a train on well maintained track will offer a smoother ride than a bus, and that is something I appreciate a lot. The train could have had some more luggage space though.

Couldn't agree more. Train every time.

 

[Starmill]

I don't think there has been a single case when I've boarded an XC service at Oxford (in any direction) when I've been able to get a standard class seat. Admittedly this is probably fewer than a dozen times ever, but it was at various different times of day and days of the week, and it has always been packed.

I'd avoid the service wherever possible and try either to travel First Class or use Great Western / Chiltern every time. It's awful.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Newcastle-Readings tend not to be too bad, certainly a lot better than the Manchester-Bournemouths.

I was on a 5-car on the 1715 Reading-Birmingham (a Bournemouth-Manchester) a few Saturdays ago and the only section where I couldn't see a free seat was between Leamington and Coventry, though Oxford was probably the busiest intermediate call.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't think there has been a single case when I've boarded an XC service at Oxford (in any direction) when I've been able to get a standard class seat. Admittedly this is probably fewer than a dozen times ever, but it was at various different times of day and days of the week, and it has always been packed.

Personally I avoid XC like the plague because of its high fares, irritating ticket restrictions and serious overcrowding. A road coach would be an entirely acceptable way of avoiding it.

 

[JonasB]

I don't think there has been a single case when I've boarded an XC service at Oxford (in any direction) when I've been able to get a standard class seat. Admittedly this is probably fewer than a dozen times ever, but it was at various different times of day and days of the week, and it has always been packed.

A Sunday forenoon in February the train wasn't even half full.

 

[Mag_seven]

Personally I avoid XC like the plague because of its high fares, irritating ticket restrictions and serious overcrowding. A road coach would be an entirely acceptable way of avoiding it.

Personally I avoid XC like the plague because of one thing - Voyagers!

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Overcrowding on Oxford-Birmingham is so prevalent, the fares so extortionate, and the seat design so unsuitable for laptop work, that I'd consider a coach too. I can't work on a coach either (travel sickness) but given that 9 times out of 10 I can't on XC, the cheaper fares would be attractive. Fortunately, as a Cotswold Line resident, there's the alternative of travelling via Worcester so that's what I do.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A Sunday forenoon in February the train wasn't even half full.

Pick the quietest time of the week in the quietest time of the year why don't you

 

[JonasB]

Pick the quietest time of the week in the quietest time of the year why don't you

I didn't pick the time, SAS did

(I just thought it might be a good idea to not arrive at the airport after my flight had left.)