Issue 56
(OBP-272)
Tuesday 2nd December 2003

next update week ending 12th December 2003

Please note that any comments made in this news page are those of the Editors' and in no way constitute 
any official points of view from the bus companies mentioned,  or indeed any other official body. 
As a news page we reserve the right to make valid comments as seen from an editorial point of view.

If you wish to be included on a mailing list where I will advise of any mid week news please
let me know on malcolmhc@aol.com

Another new fleet of buses for service in Oxford was previewed last Friday in Abingdon when the first of eleven new Mercedes Benz Citaros was displayed in The Market Square in that town. Locals from the area were able to see the £2.5 million investment by Oxford Bus in direct services to Oxford on routes X3 and X13.

OCBP correspondent Steve Annells was on hand to record the event and the results are to be found under The Oxford Bus heading below. Abingdon will certainly have a fine service to Oxford as Stagecoach also expect six new Dart low floors for their X4 service from Oxford to Abingdon. One wonders what the passengers will think of the two types and if one will prove more appealing than the other. Only time will tell.

Steve also comments  "829 itself is very impressive.  Several members of the public remarked on the sloping gangway towards the back of the bus - although there is a step right at the back this is an improvement on the usual step arrangement.  Several also queried whether the bus is longer than the current Volvos." 

Steve also wrote regarding two other items and included a two further photos to illustrate his comments especially relating to a Birmingham shopping trip for a group from Abingdon using two new Plastows Volvo/Jonckheeres.

Steve says "The (very smart) pair are FJ53KZO and FJ53ABZ, Volvo B12M/Jonckheere.

As you say the weather was awful, but I hope to have a couple of pics of them loading in Abingdon later in the week.  We're in the process of trying to sell the house, and had two viewings Saturday.  I hope nobody turned up early, or they'll turn it down - our quiet residential road looked a bit like the site of the new Abingdon bus station!

One which might be worth putting on the next  Oxford and Chilterns Bus Page update - Alan Piatt is trying to trace what happened to a Panther Cub used by Wallingford Rotary Club. Panther Cubs were never common anywhere; the nearest in Oxfordshire I can recall is, as far as I can remember, a Panther coach used by Abingdon Coaches!  Anyway his request on the Bus Station forum is:  Does ANY one know what happened to Brighton Corporation Marshall-bodied Panther Cub number 42 (NUF 142G)? She departed from Brighton in October 1975 to Norths (Dlr.)and was last heard of in Wallingford with 'Elizabeth Coach for the Disabled' in 1983. This was the last Panther Cub built and as such should be preserved if this extant. I look forward to your replies.

During last Friday I had the chance to spend sometime around Oxford Station and Friedswide Square. That square purports to be restricted to buses and taxis but my photograph below shows just how this restriction is abused. At least three private cars are using the area as a "shortcut".

One wonders just what can be done to enforce restrictions and look how the bus service is delayed.

Michael Wadman wrote as follows "On 21^st November a friend and I visited Oxford to check out the new services in the Oxford-Faringdon-Wantage triangle. As neither of us had been to Oxford for a while we arrived early to take some photographs and then made the following trip: 

10:50 Oxford – Fyfield (Windrush Travel 63)

12:05 Fyfield – Swindon (Stagecoach 66)

14:10 Swindon – Wantage (Coachman 67a)

15:45 Wantage – Abingdon via Faringdon (Heyfordian 67)

17:10 Abingdon – Oxford (White’s 30) 

Actually the White’s bus wasn’t planned, it just happened to be the next bus back to Oxford. By then of course it was the middle of the rush hour and too dark for photography, so we had a couple of pints in the Turf Tavern before catching the coach back to London. 

There were one or two other passengers on the 30 and the 66 was packed by the time it got to Swindon, but on the other three buses, all part of the new network, I’m sorry to say that we were the only passengers. 

I’m sending a few photos from the trip.

B Bell also wrote "A friend visiting Wantage a few days ago (on a school day, in order to ride the 67a double decker already featured on the web site), was amazed to see 2 double deckers working on the Abingdon to Grove Stagecoach 32 service, including the midday journey that extends to West Hannay. Dose anyone know whether these are now regular double deck operations, or whether there was just a vehicle shortage at the time? (and indeed whether they also operate on Saturdays).

Furthermore, assuming the 32 service is operated from the Harwell outstation (presumably buses park at Harwell bus station overnight ?), he was surprised to see that one of the double deckers went to Abingdon, but the return journey was a single decker. He wonders whether the buses swap in Abingdon with the service to/from Oxford ? " An interesting query and also a coincidence that I should receive correspondence so linked!!

I must say that I find details of such trips most interesting and look forward to other such accounts.

The papers this week again yielded a lot of stories and I will start first with the The Bucks Free Press. It seems that Arriva's Red Route 33 is getting the green light for a New Year relaunch. Funny it seems only very recently it was LAUNCHED but it seems that its launch last summer was followed by a spate of vandalism and graffiti. However it seems now that Arriva and the County Council are determined to emulate the success of the Red Route in Aylesbury where passenger numbers are claimed to have risen by 28per cent.  It is said that leaflets for a relaunch on January 12th have been circulated to 13000 potential users living within 500 yards of the route. It will be interesting to see what happens.

A further story relates to the future of a popular bus service under threat. Carousel's 1/401 services are facing problems wit speed calming measures in Wooburn Green would make it difficult for Carousel drivers to serve Holtspur Avenue. One awaits developments with interest.

In Oxford The Oxford Times reports that residents on Templar Road, Cutteslowe feel isolated due to a lack of bus services to the City Centre. Presently, following a subsidised tender Oxford Bus run three services per day between 1000 and 1350. There is no Saturday service. Locals do not feel they should suffer because residents in Kidlington are said not to like the "slower" service via Cutteslowe but only want a faster direct service. Indeed a senior manager at Oxford Bus said it had proved not be commercially viable to run the estate service and emphasised that Kidlington residents had indeed objected to the slower service through the estate. There could however be a possibility of running one extra service in the mid afternoon and this was being investigated.

It is always contentious when services are withdrawn and potential passengers find themselves left without an acceptable service but we live in hard commercial times and companies are no longer allowed to cross subsidise services as was the case many years ago. As such lightly used services face the axe. One can but sympathise with all modern bus companies who face difficult decisions in many cases.

When reading a recent copy of Coach & Bus Week it seems that the authorities are considering a revision to the five minute rule where buses on advertised services should run no more than 1 minute early or 4 minutes late. Certainly observers of services in and around Oxford will appreciate how difficult any such rule is to comply with. It can take 15 minutes to reach the city centre from Redbridge at busy times on the Abingdon Road.  A further problem is that there is difficulty in predicting when such delays will occur. It will be interesting to see what new rule is applied.

Well, now on to the reports for our area. Your contributions continue and I am pleased to receive them each week. My thanks to everyone who sent information.