Oxford Bus Company/Thames Travel

[aswilliamsuk]

Yes, Stagecoach is receiving an order roughly half the size - Alexander Dennis, but in essentially the same livery as the OBC Electroliners. I had understood both companies were going to have a launch event today, but only seen the OBC one so far. Stagecoach seem to be lower-key with vehicle launches (not a peep from them about the 15 new buses at Witney last year), so I expect they'll appear soon enough fairly quietly.
EDIT/OMISSION: looks like I missed an actual launch event, picture from a local pressure group's twitter here.

Going on that launch photo, the Stagecoach vehicle at the launch was actually one of the prototypes/demonstrators.

 

[Edvid]

Bus Users Oxford posted a set of pictures from the launch on Facebook.

Bus Users Oxford

Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach Oxfordshire have officially launched Oxford's new electric bus fleet.

www.facebook.com

 

[317 forever]

I believed, it now seems wrongly, that some Oxford vehicles would replace the oldest buses used to expand services in Bournemouth and Southampton as a result of Yellow Buses and First no longer there to run local services.

 

[thedorsetone]

I believed, it now seems wrongly, that some Oxford vehicles would replace the oldest buses used to expand services in Bournemouth and Southampton as a result of Yellow Buses and First no longer there to run local services.

None are expected.

 

[aswilliamsuk]

I believed, it now seems wrongly, that some Oxford vehicles would replace the oldest buses used to expand services in Bournemouth and Southampton as a result of Yellow Buses and First no longer there to run local services.

Go South Coast have a large number of new E400 MMCs either delivered or on order - 35 already received (28 to Bournemouth/Poole, 7 to Southern Vectis) with another 44 or so (as I recall, 20 to Bournemouth/Poole and 24 to Southampton - the numbers may not quite be correct) due this spring. The various cascades from these will see off most of the oldest vehicles recently kept on.

 

[Mollman]

Go South Coast have a large number of new E400 MMCs either delivered or on order - 35 already received (28 to Bournemouth/Poole, 7 to Southern Vectis) with another 44 or so (as I recall, 20 to Bournemouth/Poole and 24 to Southampton - the numbers may not quite be correct) due this spring. The various cascades from these will see off most of the oldest vehicles recently kept on.

Plus there are loan vehicles returning from Go North West

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

What vehicles are expected to remain at Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel?

I counted the fleet list for these and the 99 new new Electroliners mean the oldest in the Oxford fleet would be most of the Wright StreetDecks.

I would have thought the 55-reg Scania OmniDekkas, all B7TL's and 08-reg Omnicities would be gone at Thames Travel.

 

[317 forever]

Go South Coast have a large number of new E400 MMCs either delivered or on order - 35 already received (28 to Bournemouth/Poole, 7 to Southern Vectis) with another 44 or so (as I recall, 20 to Bournemouth/Poole and 24 to Southampton - the numbers may not quite be correct) due this spring. The various cascades from these will see off most of the oldest vehicles recently kept on.

This is useful to know thanks. I look forward to riding new buses in that area in due course.

 

[MasterSpenny]

According to buslistsontheweb.co.uk, the GB Kites registrations have been identified. They are as follows:
491 - BJ73WXD
492 - BJ73WXE
493 - BJ73WXF
494 - BJ73WXG
495 - BJ73WXH

New Post / Update (13th of January 2024)
According to buslistsontheweb.co.uk, Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliner 722 has been assigned BJ73WXK. The open top versions have been identified as the following:

Fleet Code	Registration Plate
190	BJ73WVW
191	BJ73WVX
192	BJ73WVY
193	BJ73WVZ
194	BJ73WWA
195	BJ73WWB
196	BJ73WWC
197	BJ73WWD

3 more of the 700 series Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners have now been recorded on buslistsontheweb.co.uk. The registrations are the following:
723 - BJ73WXL
724 - BJ73WXM
725 - BJ73WXN

 

[Parebunks]

491 (the Bicester Village-branded GB Kite) is out today for the first time on the 400 (bustimes.org) - hopefully the other Kites are to follow shortly. All of the Brookes electroliners (701-721) have been out for a while now - they don't seem to be quite enough to reliably cover the semester 400 timetable, as a couple of the newest diesels are still seen each day. 722 is the only electricity-branded electroliner that's been out so far, but hasn't tracked on bustimes.org since Saturday.

 

[MasterSpenny]

3 more of the 700 series Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners have now been recorded on buslistsontheweb.co.uk. The registrations are the following:
723 - BJ73WXL
724 - BJ73WXM
725 - BJ73WXN

There is now another 3 of the Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners confirmed, again taken from buslistsontheweb.co.uk, which are:
726 - BJ73WXO
727 - BJ73WXP
728 - BJ73WXR

New Update (4th of February, 2024)
Two more of the Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners registrations have been identified, again as per buslistsontheweb.co.uk.
729 - BJ73WXS
730 - BJ73WXT

 

[BlainRhys]

212 is now heading to yorkshire to be scrapped following a fire on X40

Log in to Facebook

Log in to Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family and people you know.

www.facebook.com

 

[GusB]

212 is now heading to yorkshire to be scrapped following a fire on X40

Log in to Facebook

Log in to Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family and people you know.

www.facebook.com

That link goes to a private group. Is there a publicly available source?

 

[Edvid]

Update from Luke Marion in today's Oxford and Chilterns briefing:

889 will return to Carousel in due course, however the inspections of the Volvo hybrids by TfGM are continuing this week meaning we have some of those off the road. 890 and 891 are now at Carousel following repaint and vinyls have been ordered for all three of these. They are to be allocated to Route 1.

723 - >The recently delivered new buses still need Wrightbus to attend to some delivery defects before they can enter service. I am hoping this will be before the end of next week.

351-369 None of the hybrids have travelled to Manchester yet, but some have been withdrawn from service in anticipation of transferring. We also need to ensure these buses have sufficient MOT when they transfer, as part of the vehicle sale & purchase agreement associated with Manchester franchising and so there is a need for some of this batch of buses to be MOT prepped and tested over the coming weeks. We anticipate that all will have left us by around this time next month.

 

[MasterSpenny]

There is now another 3 of the Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners confirmed, again taken from buslistsontheweb.co.uk, which are:
726 - BJ73WXO
727 - BJ73WXP
728 - BJ73WXR

New Update (4th of February, 2024)
Two more of the Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliners registrations have been identified, again as per buslistsontheweb.co.uk.
729 - BJ73WXS
730 - BJ73WXT

More Electroliners to add, again taken from buslistsontheweb.co.uk.
731 - BJ73WXU
732 - BJ73WXV
733 - BJ73WXW
734 - BJ73WXX
735 - BJ73WXY

 

[Parebunks]

From Oxford Chilterns Bus Page update above:

723 - >The recently delivered new buses still need Wrightbus to attend to some delivery defects before they can enter service. I am hoping this will be before the end of next week.

These now seem to have been resolved, with 723, 724, 727 and now 729 entering service over the last few days.

 

[Trainman40083]

What happened to the Oxford single deckers? 491 area.

 

[Parebunks]

What happened to the Oxford single deckers? 491 area.

Two of them out today on the 11X, think it would be safe to say the others will follow in pretty short order (possibly even today).

 

[Trainman40083]

Two of them out today on the 11X, think it would be safe to say the others will follow in pretty short order (possibly even today).

Thanks for that update.

 

[MasterSpenny]

These Electroliners have once again been taken from buslustsontheweb.co.uk.
736 - BJ73WXZ
737 - BJ73WYA
738 - BJ73WYB
739 - BJ73WYC
740 - BJ73WYD
741 - BJ73WYF
742 - BJ73WYG
743 - BJ73WYH
744 - BJ73WYK

 

[Trainman40083]

These Electroliners have once again been taken from buslustsontheweb.co.uk.
736 - BJ73WXZ
737 - BJ73WYA
738 - BJ73WYB
739 - BJ73WYC
740 - BJ73WYD
741 - BJ73WYF
742 - BJ73WYG
743 - BJ73WYH
744 - BJ73WYK

I wonder how many may become 24 plated.

 

[Parebunks]

There are now 11 of the double-deck 'electricity' electroliners in service (722-729, 732, 733, 735). The priority allocation for these seems to generally be 700, followed by 300 and 15. Of the single-decks, 492, 493 and 495 have all seen service, mostly on the 11X with some gapfilling on the 400 and 700. This has allowed the removal from service of more of the Geminis and E400s, with several not seen for a few days or more. (All of this from bustimes.org or personal observation)

Update as of 07/03: Several changes registered on bustimes.org for both Oxfordshire operations - I've summarised what there is in the table below - this is in addition to timetable changes on 5, 6, 8, 35, 43, X1, X32, X34, ST1 and some school services. X40 has already been announced as recieving BSIP-funded enhancements, not sure if this is frequency increase or just extra evenings/Sundays. Of the rest, looks like the 136 and the X35 are both being split in Wantage and Wallingford respectively, but can't make out much of the rest, would appreciate anyone who could enlighten me!

PH0007184/97	X2	Oxford City Centre, Westgate	Didcot,Orchard Centre	Didcot Parkway Station, Abingdon	Route, timetable and bus stop/stopping places variation
PH0005727/2	X3	Barton, Atkinson Close	Market Place, Wantage	John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford	Timetable, route and bus stop/stopping place variation
PH0007184/112	X35	Didcot, Broadway	Market Place, Wantage	Harwell Campus, Wantage	Timetable, route and bus stop/stopping place variation
PH0007184/147	X36	Didcot, Tesco Depot	Becquerel Avenue, Harwell Campus	Milton Park, Grove	Timetable, route and bus stop/stopping place variation
PH0007184/143	44​	Oxford, Botley Road	Abingdon, High Street	Didcot, Milton Park, Culham, Abingdon	Timetable variation (previously no. 33)
PH0007184/169	67​	Market Place, Wantage	Market Place, Faringdon	East Challow, Stanford in the Vale & Shellingford	New registration
PH0007184/72	136​	St Mary's Street, Wallingford	St Martin's Street, Wallingford	Wallingford	Timetable, route and bus stop/stopping place variation
PH0007184/170	139​	St Martin's Street, Wallingford	St Martin's Street, Wallingford	Crowmarsh Gifford, Benson, RAF Benson & Crowmarsh Gifford	New registration
PH0005727/46	3​	Oxford City Centre, Westgate	Cowley, Templars Square	Rose Hill	'Revised timetable'. Route already announced as changing
PH0007184/166	X40	Oxford City Centre, Westgate	Reading Town Centre, Forbury Road	Wallingford	Timetable variation

 

[hst43102]

There are now 11 of the double-deck 'electricity' electroliners in service (722-729, 732, 733, 735). The priority allocation for these seems to generally be 700, followed by 300 and 15. Of the single-decks, 492, 493 and 495 have all seen service, mostly on the 11X with some gapfilling on the 400 and 700. This has allowed the removal from service of more of the Geminis and E400s, with several not seen for a few days or more. (All of this from bustimes.org or personal observation)

Update as of 07/03: Several changes registered on bustimes.org for both Oxfordshire operations - I've summarised what there is in the table below - this is in addition to timetable changes on 5, 6, 8, 35, 43, X1, X32, X34, ST1 and some school services. X40 has already been announced as recieving BSIP-funded enhancements, not sure if this is frequency increase or just extra evenings/Sundays. Of the rest, looks like the 136 and the X35 are both being split in Wantage and Wallingford respectively, but can't make out much of the rest, would appreciate anyone who could enlighten me!

Looks like the 33 is being split as well. The X35/67 extension didn't last long.

 

[W-on-Sea]

The X35/67 extension had a hard winter - there is one particular point on the road between Wantage and Stanford that is prone to flooding even without extreme weather....and this winter it has been flooded a lot, often resulting in a shuttle operation running in a rather convoluted route between Wantage and Faringdon to protect the rest of the X35 from being affected by the ensuing delays.

I'm puzzled by the reference to the revived 67 going to Shellingford (if they mean Shellingford Village, rather than just the A417). Pre-2016 one of the (very infrequent) varieties of the 67 did, I think, go there, but it is also one of the villages missed by the new Pulhams 68 that effectively has restored most of the operations provided by the old 67/A/B/C group. I don't know if that implies a diversion from the current main road routing or not.

Looks like the X36 gets an extension east from the new Kingsgrove development on the eastern side of Wantage to Harwell Campus. No doubt makes sense in terms of connecting homes with workplaces. And I presume the extension of the X3 to Wantage is intended to restore a direct link to the JR Hospital in Oxford that was lost when the X32 was cut short at Didcot (and the X1 diverted away from another hospital nearby instead to go to Oxford Station). Will be interested to see how the X3 and X1 will inter-relate, and on what frequencies - not least given their varying routings in Abingdon now.

Not sure what to make of the reference to Culham in the new 44, unless it is going to loop via Culham (science centre + village too?) after passing through Abingdon before returning to terminate there?

 

[Parebunks]

I suspect the 33/44 has been inputted wrong - it's only down as a timetable change, so reckon it may well be staying as it is now. The X3 to Wantage is the bit that's most puzzling for me, if that is correct info the reliability is going to be horrifying on a route that length.

 

[Voyager 2953]

A grey former Brookes Streetdeck has turned up at Carousel today

 

[goldisgood]

Update as of 07/03: Several changes registered on bustimes.org for both Oxfordshire operations - I've summarised what there is in the table below - this is in addition to timetable changes on 5, 6, 8, 35, 43, X1, X32, X34, ST1 and some school services. X40 has already been announced as recieving BSIP-funded enhancements, not sure if this is frequency increase or just extra evenings/Sundays. Of the rest, looks like the 136 and the X35 are both being split in Wantage and Wallingford respectively, but can't make out much of the rest, would appreciate anyone who could enlighten me!

Also appears to be a cancellation of the ST2 listed here, which I'm not sure was expected?
I'd assume we'll see similar registrations for Stagecoach on the 1 and 8 coming through soon, maybe for the 8 some adjustments due to the new traffic patterns following the St Clements bus lane have becoming more clear.

Looks like the X36 gets an extension east from the new Kingsgrove development on the eastern side of Wantage to Harwell Campus. No doubt makes sense in terms of connecting homes with workplaces. And I presume the extension of the X3 to Wantage is intended to restore a direct link to the JR Hospital in Oxford that was lost when the X32 was cut short at Didcot (and the X1 diverted away from another hospital nearby instead to go to Oxford Station). Will be interested to see how the X3 and X1 will inter-relate, and on what frequencies - not least given their varying routings in Abingdon now.

Agreed with the X36 making sense, but not sure how viable such a route would be once funding is cut, especially considering the overprovision of buses on the A417 at times. I believe at one point recently the Wantage-Harwell corridor was threatened with being reduced to hourly, but I guess we'll just see a continuation of the never-ending changes to Oxford Bus/Thames Travel network! Good to see numbers on the current X36 picking up last time I was around Wantage/Grove though, definitely a route that's been needed for a while.

Changes to the X1 and X3 will be interesting to see - as highlighted by others I can't see an extended X3 being any good for reliability, going through some of the most congested parts of the county right now (the JR, St Clements, Abingdon Road and Abingdon Town Centre). I wonder if this could also impact on the X1, as I would be insurprised if there is interworking due to the journey time between Abingdon and Wantage and the fact that 2bph is really all that's needed on this section. Certainly can't imagine this being too popular a change for most even though it restores the links to the JR - such a link might be better established as part the proposed Eastern Arc between the JR, Cowley and Abingdon.

Not sure what to make of the reference to Culham in the new 44, unless it is going to loop via Culham (science centre + village too?) after passing through Abingdon before returning to terminate there?

Most likely a split of the 33 in Abingdon, and the place listing on the registration not being updated to account for this?

I'd assume more will come clear over the next week or so, with what looks like a relatively big set of changes coming in a month's time.

 

[Parebunks]

Also appears to be a cancellation of the ST2 listed here, which I'm not sure was expected?
I'd assume we'll see similar registrations for Stagecoach on the 1 and 8 coming through soon, maybe for the 8 some adjustments due to the new traffic patterns following the St Clements bus lane have becoming more clear.

Good spot r.e. ST2 - would be deeply frustrating for me as I use it every day and it always seems to have respectable enough loadings, hoping something comes through to replace it! Expecting some other changes from Stagecoach as BSIP+ funding is coming through, but nothing public on that yet, and beyond the remit of this thread.

 

[Wolvercoter]

ST2 registered with OBC from 14/4, according to VOSA.

 

[Parebunks]

ST2 registered with OBC from 14/4, according to VOSA.

Great, thanks - makes more sense than the current arrangement as it's mostly operated with Oxford vehicles anyway (hopefully the electrics soon, but still mostly minibuses for now).