E200s 36768/36769 were transferred to Banbury on 29/12/2016 and displaced E200s 36449/36450 which were transferred to Stagecoach East Midlands on 30/12/2016 and are allocated to Lincoln depot.

Just thought you would like this news , three further arrivals to note are further Gold - specification MMC 10779-10781 (SN66VZA/B/C) which are in use and these have allowed Hybrids 12014/17/22 to transfer to Stagecoach Manchester."

Also Ralph Adams wrote on this subject saying "This months fleet card has now arrived and combined with last month, the following movements have occurred.

Oxford movements

Vehicles in   10779-88  (Ten Gold buses)

Vehicles Out

12014/17/22   (last month)   three buses to Manchester Hyde Road

36769/70   to Banbury  two buses 

Changed PVR

Four extra buses in use (Route 7 needs three, possibly the relief on Tube / 3A is the other) making one extra spare bus.

Banbury movements: 36769/70 in and 36449/50 to East Midlands (Lincoln)

Allocations noted are:

Oxford 36771 oldest single deck

Banbury 34467/72 Darts and 36448 E200 still in use.

10781 in The High with a Kite for company and in use by your Editor on December 20th.

The new batch of Gold E400s were all delivered in December and are working on routes 7, X30 and 31 with an occasional appearance on the S3. Details of the batch are as follows:

Seating details are as follows: 73 Max seated, 21 standees and 1 disabled. - Top Deck 43 - Bottom Deck 27 + 2 folding buggy seats and 1 folding disabled seat.

Many of you sent pictures and I am pleased to include a selection below. My thanks to Gavin Francis and Graham Low plus a number from myself, your Editor.

         
Interior pictures of 10781 taken on December 20th when I drove this bus. Malcolm Crowe.

For comparison old and new, 10784 and 15757 at Horspath depot on December 20th by Malcolm Crowe.
The sun was low in the winter sky and posed a problem to get a nice sharp picture!!

  
10780 on the X30 in St Aldates on December 16th by Graham Low.

   
New Golds by Gavin Francis, 10779 passes Carfax on December 16th, 10781 on the 31 on January 8th
and 10785 on the new route 7 (Oxford-Woodstock) again on January 8th.

Richard Sharman notes "A YouTube Interview with Stagecoach also strongly hints at further New Routes and confirms the new Gold's will be operating on the 7."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qZBaQMTlFbM 

I thought it interesting to include this statement by the company about Stagecoach Gold.

The following is about why you’ll love Stagecoach Gold as advised by the company.

From listening to your feedback, we’ve created a Customer Promise  and developed Stagecoach Gold with you in mind.

Where available, you’ll find that Stagecoach Gold is:

• punctual – 95% of journeys run no more than five minutes late or one minute early
• comfortable – high back leather seats, extra legroom and soft furnishings
• friendly – specially trained, uniformed drivers
• connected – free Wi-Fi on many of our routes
• greener -  Euro 5 engines help cut exhaust gas emissions

The link to the specific page is https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/national/stagecoach-gold, which lists every Gold route in the country.

Stagecoach in Oxfordshire Pictureview.

10070 showing Contactless Payment and advertising and Megabus to London, seen November 20th by Gavin Francis.

MMC 10434 on a 10 working, now more usually a Hybrid duty passes along High Street on December 29th by Gavin Francis.

10669 on a 2 working on November 12th by Gavin Francis.

10683 on an S3 working to Woodstock on November 27th by Gavin Francis.

10673 on an S4 working outside the Randolph on December 16th by Gavin Francis.

 
15753 showing detail of the Contactless Payment now applied to all Oxfordshire buses.
Pictures by Richard Sharman.

Detail on 10675 by Richard Sharman

A small problem awaits the fitter to 12010 on December 6th by Gary Seamarks. 

Gavin Francis commented on two pictures from Clive Middleton noting picture from Herne Bay catches our old 15443 which has been painted in special livery and also 17528 now open top after its days in London.

 
How smart these two buses look in the seaside livery.

 
15443 in MAGDALEN STREET WEST - OXFORD on January 25th 2009 by Gavin Francis
and London's 17528 at CANNING TOWN STATION on the 115 on August 17th 2011 again by Gavin Francis.

Paul Hawkins writes "Observations from the area of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester including ex Oxford Hybrids and an E400MMC taken on the 5th and 6th December.

Enviro 400MMC branded for the 250/X50 from Piccadilly to the Trafford Cent

Stagecoach in and around the Midlands and East.

Gary Seamarks writes "Below is a catch up on what's happened/happening at SC in Bedford over the past few weeks.

Olympian 14000 F110NES has gone to Ely, as part of the Heritage fleet. Having been at Bedford since Oct 1991, when it arrived from East Midland, back then Bedford had much more school contracts than today with 1400 taking over two deckers work. Latterly mainly confined to one School route where it seems the 110 seat capacity was not needed as well as occasional duties on town routes when pushed. It must be remembered that it has worked in the past on the X5 right through as well as being a Showbus regular. 

Service revisions (cuts) has seen the end of (subsided by MK in late November)  route 40 Bedford- Stagsden-Milton Keynes, they have retained an hourly Stagsden- Bedford to cover some of the workings, this saves one bus. Nothing now runs Stagsden to Astwood, between Astwood and Newport Pagnell is covered by Red Rose route 37, four times a day for connections to Milton Keynes, none of which are any good for someone working 9 to 5. The section between Newport Pagnell and MK is covered by other routes. How people from Chicheley must feel as the X5 passes every 30 minutes non-stop.

The new year sees the end of the 53 between Cranfield University and MK Hospital via MK Shops, again saving one bus. UNO cover this route on a similar frequency but run much earlier and later and also Sundays.

 Also cut is the Hourly (M-S) 74 which links Bedford - Biggleswade via a more rural back road, it was hourly and the fastest link between the two towns, this route will now be operated by Grant Palmer.

 Cuts to 71/2 Bedford Hitchin see the two Fri/Sat evening return runs removed as does cuts on the 73 between Bedford and Biggleswade with the 20.50 and 22.50 departures withdrawn.

 Route 52 serving the Marsh Leys Distribution Centre south of the town twice a day has also been cut.

Its a sad state of affairs that excluding towns  (mostly Hourly) and X5, after 19.00 only the following depart Bedford, 20.01  route 50 to Kettering (worked by Midlands) and the 19.50 73 to Biggleswade (worked by a Biggleswade outstation vehicle)."

Well, that seems to be a developing pattern in many areas. Ed.

Bill J writes "On a separate matter, Stagecoach at Leamington Spa has a number of new deckers. I've seen various ones between 10728- to 10734. Registrations are in the SN66UWx series. I think they're the new MMC vehicles? From what I've seen, there is a fair chance that they will work into your area on services to Banbury, though so far I've only seen them on Unibus and X18 routes. I'll try and get some pictures for you. Yes please Ed.

I assume you know that a new depot is under construction in the Heathcote area of town. The old site adjacent to the railway station will be cleared and redeveloped for housing."

Stagecoach West (Swindon)

Marcus Lapthorn writes "We have had single deckers on the 66 route from Swindon to Oxford occasionally, but I had never seen a gold one until January 12th! Photographed in Faringdon @ 0955 on its way to Swindon.

West's 22745 on the 66 near Faringdon on January 12th by Marcus Lapthorn

Chris Maxfield and Richard Sharman respond "These are due to move to Stroud for use on the 66. Most have been stored at the old Swindon depot pending branding and transfer to Stroud."