End of the X90 Coach Service

[transmanche]

They're also getting slower. A peak service now takes 2h45 to Victoria vs a train to Kings Cross taking less than an hour. It's a long way to the M11 from central London.

Gosh, that is slow. Green Line's 798 used to beat that (yes, I know it was the early 1980s!) and that wasn't a motorway route - it ran through places such as Broxbourne, Enfield, Wood Green and Camden Town.

 

[northken]

Slightly off-topic, but Stagecoach has revealed its new timetable for the Oxford Tube from Monday 6th January. It is quite clearly a response to the withdrawal of the X90.

The PVR will increase from 25 to 31, to cater for the increase seven Van Hool Astromegas are being transferred in from Stagecoach West Scotland where they have recently been displaced from Megabus work - the vehicles are reported to be 50233, 50235, 50244/5/6/7 and 50250.

The new timetable features "express" journeys. These will operate via Marylebone and will not stop at Notting Hill Gate, Shepherd's Bush, Hillington Station or Lewknor Turn but will serve the former X90 stops at Marylebone and (on request) White City. These journeys operate at certain times only and are clearly aimed at commuters and the tourist day trippers. In effect they are timetabled relief journeys - which is hugely ironic, as that was how the X90 came into being in the first place!*

https://www.oxfordtube.com/extuploads/oxford_tube_from_06_january_2020.pdf

* at the time numbered 190, the route commenced in the late 1970s as timetabled express relief journeys along the newly-constructed M40 motorway, supporting the traditional COMS 290 and 390 routes between Oxford and London. The route quickly proved popular and soon became a regular-interval service.

Do you know where the request stop in White City will be by any chance? Thanks!

 

[NorthOxonian]

Do you know where the request stop in White City will be by any chance? Thanks!

I would expect it to be the current X90 request stops - ZZ heading eastbound, V heading westbound. But I don't know for certain.

 

[PeterC]

I'm not sure I'd describe them as similar.

Coaches to Cambridge are disappearing.
A decade ago they were hourly. There's now gaps of more than 2 hours. They're also getting slower. A peak service now takes 2h45 to Victoria vs a train to Kings Cross taking less than an hour. It's a long way to the M11 from central London.
SNIP

Its also a long queue from junction 5 to junction 4 at peak times. The M40 / A40 approach into London has its faults but it is probably the easiest drive in the morning peak.

 

[Wirewiper]

I'm not sure I'd describe them as similar.

Coaches to Cambridge are disappearing.
A decade ago they were hourly. There's now gaps of more than 2 hours. They're also getting slower. A peak service now takes 2h45 to Victoria vs a train to Kings Cross taking less than an hour. It's a long way to the M11 from central London.

I wonder if there is a gap in the market for a turn-up-and-go Cambridge - Stratford service, rather along the lines of Stagecoach's M2 service between Canterbury and North Greenwich?

 

[MedwayValiant]

That may be an unfortunate choice of example, because when I've seen the M2 waiting time at Chatham Bus Station the number on board is often suited more to a car than to a high spec coach.

Oxford is well suited for coach travel to London because the railway station is awkwardly located west of the city centre. From the east side of Oxford the station is a bit of a trek, while the coach to London can pick you up on its way out of town. It's for much the same reason that Hemel Hempstead can still support a coach service to London.

Cambridge station is even further from the city centre than in Oxford, but it's south of the centre and the coach to London must pass close to it on its way out of town. So a coach is not convenient for those on the "wrong" side of the city who find getting to the station awkward.

 

[Busaholic]

That may be an unfortunate choice of example, because when I've seen the M2 waiting time at Chatham Bus Station the number on board is often suited more to a car than to a high spec coach.

Oxford is well suited for coach travel to London because the railway station is awkwardly located west of the city centre. From the east side of Oxford the station is a bit of a trek, while the coach to London can pick you up on its way out of town. It's for much the same reason that Hemel Hempstead can still support a coach service to London.

Cambridge station is even further from the city centre than in Oxford, but it's south of the centre and the coach to London must pass close to it on its way out of town. So a coach is not convenient for those on the "wrong" side of the city who find getting to the station awkward.

That looks a persuasive argument to me.

Sorry to read about lack of passengers on the M2, but I can't say I'm surprised really. TfL seem determined to make any roads they're responsible for gridlocked in peak hours, such that they start impinging on the surrounding roads and motorways for which they're thankfully not responsible.