Issue nr 366
Thursday, October 9th 2025
Past Issues : https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/
From the Editor
An interesting issue with news of new buses for Carousel ever expanding operations.
I am sorry that some submissions are held over until the next issue as I already had completed this issue.
In this issue
Bus travel via the Park & Ride network in Oxford will be made free
Midland Interlude by Keith Briant
Chesham running day, High Wycombe plus Henley, Abingdon & Radley by Jack Cooper
Adrian Small reports from the Southern area
COMS memories by Grahame Wareham
Jim Wright from West of Oxford
Citywise Travel by Gavin Francis
Local updates from Thomas Walker-Werth
Neil Gow In answer to Tom Farooqui’s question
Readers Write
Buses in the landscape
Coach visitors to our area
Fleet News & Developments
London operations
Free bus travel via Park & Ride network among raft of major improvements
- Bus network improvements confirmed following temporary congestion charge
- Free Park&Ride tickets announced and enhancements to service 700
- More services for Blackbird Leys, Cowley, Headington, Barton, Marston, Abingdon and Kidlington
- Improved connectivity to hospitals including John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals
Bus travel via the Park & Ride network in Oxford will be made free as part of a series of major improvements following the introduction of a temporary congestion charge.
Oxford Bus Company has confirmed extensive network improvements will be implemented as part of the Oxfordshire Bus Enhanced Partnership in which Oxfordshire County Council and bus operators work together to improve bus productivity in the city.
The bus operator has calculated the new measures to reduce congestion will enable it to save seven vehicles from its city network which will be redeployed to enhance services impacted by congestion. Temporary congestion charging commences on 29 October, which free Park & Ride travel will coincide with. The wider bus improvements will start on 9 November.
Bus travel on Park & Ride vehicles will be free for an initial three-month trial period. Customers with a valid parking ticket for any of the five Park & Ride sites located around the ring road will be able to obtain a free return ticket to any Oxford destination by showing their parking ticket to the bus driver.
As part of the Park & Ride improvements the 700 service will increase to every 20 minutes between Monday and Friday, and every 30 minutes on weekends, running to a consistent route throughout the week from Kidlington to Blackbird Leys. Plus, new stops will be added to the Redbridge Park & Ride 300 service at Lake Street on Abingdon Road, in response to local councillor and resident feedback.
Passengers will benefit from better orbital links around East Oxford thanks to improvements to services 100, 500 and 700. The 100 service will operate every 20 minutes Monday to Friday, and every 30 minutes on evenings, Saturdays and Sundays. The 500 will have an enhanced frequency on Saturdays to every 10 minutes.
Links which existed in the past, but were lost to congestion, will be restored. A new 20 service will be introduced, running every 40 minutes Monday to Friday between Rose Hill, Iffley Road, The Plain, St Clements, Morrell Avenue, Gipsy Lane, the John Radcliffe Hospital and Marston Road.
Littlemore will benefit from better buses, with the 5A service between Oxford and Minchery Farm increasing to every 20 minutes between Monday and Friday and the evening service doubling to every 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, the 3/3A services will be extended to Oxford Rail Station, allowing a direct route from Iffley Road. As part of these changes, the 3A will stop at Cowley Lidl and no longer serve Templars Square, with this link now being served by Stagecoach’s 600 service.
Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company Managing Director, said: “This is fantastic news for bus passengers and our network.
“We have worked closely with Oxfordshire County Council to identify the best ways to improve the network following the decision to introduce temporary congestion charging, making use of modelling data predicting the impact of traffic volumes across the network.
“It has resulted in us now being able to introduce a significant round of improvements to our network, which demonstrates the impact congestion has had on Oxford and what can be achieved with improved flow of traffic on bus routes.
“We thank Oxfordshire County Council for its support and bold approach to seeking solutions to working in partnership to make bus travel more attractive to people to move around the county. The Park & Ride free ticket offering is a pilot scheme and we’d encourage people to use it to ensure it is a success and can be extended.”
Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said: “These improvements are the direct result of our commitment to improving operating conditions for buses by reducing congestion, and a great example of partnership working between us and the bus operators.
“They bring real, immediate benefits to people across Oxford and demonstrate the commitment from Oxford Bus Company to improving services following the measures we are taking to reduce journey times and reliability. We will continue to work alongside our bus operator partners to make public transport the best option for people travelling in and out of Oxford.”
Other benefits include a new N3 night bus service for Iffley Road, operating Monday to Saturday, while the frequencies of services 6 and 8 have been reduced to every 20 minutes on Saturday, to better match supply to demand.
Network enhancements also include Thames Travel’s H2 service operating between Carterton and Thornhill Park and Ride via Witney, Eynsham, Oxford North, Summertown, John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Headington will improve its peak time frequencies and weekend timetable.
Many other city routes, including the 3, 3A, 5, 5A, 8, 11, 15, 100, 300, 400, 500, 700, ST2 and X3 will see improved timetables, with faster journeys at peak times.
Oxford Park & Ride sites are located at Pear Tree, Oxford Parkway, Seacourt, Redbridge and Thornhill and parking is just £2.50 for up to 16 hours.
Click on the link for full details
Midland Interlude by Keith Briant
This week a look at the
Coventry operations of Mobico, formerly National Express Goup. (Surely I can't
be the only person who thinks the name Mobico sounds like a petrol station!?)
West Midlands Travel Ltd trading as National Express Coventry operate an
extensive network of city services; tendered and commercial rural services which
reach Kenilworth, Leamington, Rugby and Nuneaton and also the frequent X1
Coventry to Birmingham service which is virtually a 24 hour operation. A handful
of TfWM contracted services are also operated by Stagecoach Midlands.
The entire double deck fleet now comprises BYD/Enviro400 vehicles many of which are named. E097 (LG72 DVJ) Charlotte; E133 (LG72 DXD) Martin Hancock and E058 (LG22 BBZ) Jessica are seen here. The latter is in Bedworth, which for many decades was the northern terminal of route 20 before it was extended to Nuneaton in competition with Stagecoach. E133 is named after a former company director as this article explains:
E140 (LG72 DXM) Tracey is seen entering Nuneaton bus
station and E138 (LG72 DXK) Sandy is pausing at the town's George Eliot
Hospital. Bedworth, the former terminal point of service 20, was the extremity
of Coventry Corporation's tram service until the Luftwaffe put a premature end
to the network on the night of 30 December 1940. There had been an intention to
extend the tram line to Nuneaton, but World War One put an end to those
ambitions and the plan was never resurrected. So Coventry Corporation's
successor did eventually reach Nuneaton, but it took nearly a century to do so!
There are a small number of livery variations in the
highly standardised double deck fleet. The initial batch of buses delivered to
the company have a different application of vinyls, as demonstrated by E020
(LG20 PTO) Indie Rose, the lowest numbered bus in the Coventry fleet. Ten
similar buses are also supplied by Zenobe for maintenance purposes and these are
numbered in a seperate series. Not all are in operation at the same time. Z4003
(LG72 DSV) and Z4009 (LF24 ZRU) are shown. They all carry the National Express
West Midlands red stripes livery and fleetnames. The entire electric double deck
fleet is leased from Zenobe and these leases will transfer from the operator to
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) when franchising commences. TfWM have also
started discussions to purchase Wet Midlands Travel's bus depots which will
include Coventry's large site on the edge of the city centre, close to the bus
station. Walsall depot has already been purchased. Birmingham Central may be
excluded as there is only a short time remaining on its lease.
A small single deck fleet remains at Coventry.
A number of electric demonstrators have been trialled ahead of an order being
placed to replace these, but nothing has been ordered yet. I suspect this has
now been overtaken by the franchising plan and will become TfWM's
responsibility. 2161 (BX13 JTO) is a Volvo B7RLE with Wright bodywork. The last
buses have recently been repained out of the former two tone blue scheme as
shown by 2173 (BX13 JUO). This bus is now in standard grey at Acocks Green
depot, although two similar buses in the now superceded red livery are currently
operating in Coventry.
Six Enviro200's also remain, the highest numbered of
which is 844 (SN64 ODW) Sam Helen. Similar 875 (SN15 LCZ) Toni Lynn carries the
former Coventry Corporation Transport colours, but has sadly been transferred to Pensnett depot while standard grey examples remain in Coventry.
4453 (BJ03 EVC) Rebecca Rita a Dennis
Trident with Alexander ALX400 bodywork. This bus was appropriately chosen for
this scheme as under the previous registration system 'VC' was a local
registration marque. Sadly this bus was sold to PVS for scrap in February. A
small number of these buses remain in the driver trainer fleet however and 4129
(Y721 TOH) is seen outside of Coventry's Transport Museum which is well worth a
visit. This bus is from the first batch of buses of this type delivered to the
wider fleet.
Fellow group company National Express Accessible
Transport also have a base in Coventry from which they operate a West Midlands
Bus On Demand Service and specialist transport for schools. A1058 (KR64
RHO) is a Mercedes-Benz Sprinte with Teka Mobility+ bodywork seen on the
former.
Finally, several National Express routes also operate
through Coventry and BV19 XPR, a standard Caetano bodied Scania operated by
Chalfont Coaches of Southall is seen bound for London in the city's Pool Meadow
bus station.
Next week we'll look at some unusual sightings and also briefly pop into Coventry Transport Museum.
Chesham running day, High Wycombe plus Henley, Abingdon & Radley by Jack Cooper
Chesham running day, High Wycombe
Henley, Abingdon & Radley
80725 is seen in Radley,
heading towards Abingdon on the 35.
80658 is seen at the Radley
Station stop of the 35, as it is heading towards Oxford.
80722 is seen in Radley whilst
heading towards Abingdon on the 35. The Bowyer Arms Pub is seen in the
background of this photo.
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80722 is seen on the Radley
Road, heading into Radley on the 35 to Oxford.
80901 is seen crossing
Abingdon Bridge whilst heading towards Abingdon on the 33.
80903 is seen heading towards
Henley & Shiplake and is photographed on Nag's Head Island.
80907 is seen on St Helen's Wharf whilst heading to
Oxford Osney Island on the 44. St Helen's Wharf isn't where you'd usually find a
bus,
it is only used as a diversion route for the 44 and 45 during the Abingdon
Fair which is taking place
from 5th - 7th October this year. Previously the 41
town service ran along here, until the route was changed in 2016.
Adrian Small reports from the Southern area
I've been on a few trips recently in the Southern area.
A few pictures are attached which may be of interest:
Bluestar:
Along with Go-Ahead companies Thames Travel and Pulhams, Bluestar have also been
receiving Volvo B8L/MCV's. They are mostly for Barton Peveril College services,
but make a appearance on the 24 from Eastleigh to Hedge End.
1 - Bluestar 1052 (BU75 WLF) Volvo B8L/MCV, seen in Eastleigh on route 24 to
Hedge End.
2 - Bluestar 1057 (BU75 WLL) Volvo B8L/MCV seen near Eastleigh FC's Silverlake
Stadium on a College Service.
Morebus:
Now to the other extreme
3 - Morebus 1822 (HF54 KXV) Volvo B7TL/EL open top on the New Forest Tour Red
Route,
seen in Cadnam with some hardy souls on the top deck with threatening
skies behind. This bus is over 20years old.
Stagecoach South:
Two recent transfers from Stagecoach Midlands at Leamington Spa
4 - Stagecoach South 11224 (SN69 ZDE) AD E40DMMC seen in the new livery in
Andover on route 74 to Peter Symonds College, Winchester.
5 - Stagecoach South 11229 (SN69 ZDk) AD E40DMMC seen in the pride livery in
Winchester on route 64 to Alton.
Still in service are a few Tridents
6 - Stagecoach South 18521 (GX06 DXV) Dennis Trident/Alexander Dennis seen in
Andover on route 75 to Winchester. This is nearly 20 years old.
Salisbury Reds:
Still in service as well
7 - 1993 (HW52 EPN) Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President seen in Salisbury having just
completed a college service. This is over 20 years old.
First Hants & Dorset:
Open toppers
8 - 37729 (YJ09 OCA) - Volvo B9TL/Wright seen in Wareham on route X54
9 - 37795 (LK59 CXN) - Volvo B9TL/Wright seen in Preston near Weymotuh on route
11
Stagecoach South:
10 - 36925 (411 DCD) - AD Enviro200 seen in Havant on route 30 from Hayling
Island in RHS overall advert livery
COMS memories by Grahame Wareham
L366 NWL714 1949 AEC Regent III with NCB L30/26R
lowbridge body. L366 was renumbered L140 in the new divided series in 1952.
L140 spent its life at most of the country depots to the west of the City and
was withdrawn in January 1963. It was subsequently sold to
Transport (Passenger
Equipment) Ltd.,Macclesfield (dealer) in March 1963. It was sold on to C.Hoyle,
Wombwell Diesels (dealer), Wombwell, Barnsley where is was scrapped
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%20NWL714%20Gloucester%20Green%20Oxford%201960%20%20GW.jpg)
%20NWL714%20The%20Plain%20Oxford%201959%20%20GW.jpg)
366 DFC366D 1966 AEC Renown 3B3RA with Park Royal
H38/27F forward entrance low-height body. 366 spent its early life as a Oxford
Cowley Road based bus used on City routes. It was sold to Transport Passenger
Equipment (dealer), Macclesfield being quickly resold to Cherry, Beverley in
January 1974. In April 1979 it was withdrawn by Cherry and sold to Ken Askin
(dealer), Barnsley for scrap.
366
V16OXF 2013 Volvo B5LH with Wright Eclipse
Gemini 2 low-height H45/27F body. It featured Volvo parallel hybrid technology
using battery power when available to move the bus up until the first gear
change into second gear where the engine automatically starts and the bus
proceeds as a normal diesel bus. 365 was originally delivered in red City livery
and operated mostly on service 2. In 2018 it received a pale blue livery and was
route branded for City 2. In 2022 the route 2 buses were rebranded as route 3's
and 366 plied this route until February 2024 when it was despatched to
Stagecoach Manchester to run the franchised services on behalf of Transport for
Greater Manchester becoming 13190 in that fleet, It was reregistered OE62ZRZ
prior to departure and has since been repainted in the TFGM canary yellow.
I have been out and about in some old territory this last week, how things have changed in the last fifty years! I didn't recognise the environs of Wantage and Grove but all due credit to the bus drivers they have some sh**** roads to drive along. It's a pity the councils don't pay a bit more attention to road maintenance instead of building all these cycle lanes that appear not to be being used!
Jim Wright from West of Oxford
An interesting fleet.
Ridleys Coaches – The only way to travel
A lovely vintage Rolls Royce parked up in
Stow,
citywise travel
https://citywisetravel.co.uk
ex-NatEx Levante BF68LDZ in Lane End now with Citywise Travel the nearest we
have is LDX.
Local updates from Thomas Walker-Werth
Here are a few recent updates from me. Firstly, Z&S recently began working a few extra diagrams on Red Rose's route 100 between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes. I believe the two companies are competitors,
but
I'm not sure what Z&S is hoping to achieve with these two daily workings.
We also recently saw the first appearance of the new
Stagecoach livery on the MK1. I saw another of your contributors also caught it
on the X5.
I went out last week to photo a very rare route:
Grant Palmer's CJ, which runs once in the early morning from Luton up to Magna
Park MK and back a little after lunchtime. This is technically one of two Grant
Palmer routes in MK (along with the 34) and probably the rarest public route to
photo in the city.
Among the other highlights of my September bus-wise were my ride on the new Bakerloop route in London, and my visit to the lovely Daventry running day. You can see it all in my September UK bus gallery:
https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/September-2025/UK-Bus--Other-Transport-September-2025
Neil Gow In answer to Tom Farooqui’s questions:
-
V119 LGC is still in service with Redline and has recently become the
regular vehicle on the daytime service of route 110 on schooldays.
-
PL08 YLZ and PL08 YMA are both in service with Redline but you rarely see
them tracking on Bustimes because they are mainly used on closed contracts.
-
LK06 FLB has tracked on Bustimes only once since the new school year but it
still has current tax and MOT so no reason to suppose it is withdrawn. It
may also be used mainly on closed contracts of which there are quite a lot
for Lord Williams School.
A couple of snaps from the
Northamptonshire village of Woodford Halse. I dropped my son off at their
village school as they were sharing a coach with our school for a trip to
Weymouth for a week at an activity centre. A rather smart Yutong belonging to
Cheney Travel.
A nice sunny morning
(Monday 6th Oct) I took a wander around the village and explored the area once
occupied by extensive railway sidings, engine sheds, the station itself etc.
Most is now woodland with designated trails cross crossing the area. It was the
Great Central Railway that caused the village population to increase from just
over 500 in 1890 to over 1, 600 once the railway was open. Little remains now
but the double arch bridges at the station site still do along with several
streets containing terrace housing originally intended for railway workers. The
station masters house also remains as a very attractive private dwelling.
For many years the
‘replacement’ bus route between Banbury and Rugby was operated by local firm
Geoff Amos coaches. Stagecoach took over in 2011 when the coach firm closed and
today run the Banbury to Daventry section as route 200. A loop is made around
Woodford with ADL Enviro 200 36763 (OU62 BHV) of Banbury depot was heading for
Daventry. The station was accessed by a staircase between the bridges, a style
GCR replicated along the route and allowed for trains to use an island platform,
quicker and cheaper to build rather than two separate platforms. A visit to the
remaining GCR between Leicester and Loughborough today allows you to experience
this . The large ‘doorway’ to the station also featured at Newton Purcell and I
have taken a screen shot of Google Street View, the bricked up arch just
surviving the HS2 works currently ongoing.
That’s all for now, off on some of Northamptonshire’s current iron roads now! Keep up the excellent work and I ll be in touch again very soon.
Vernon Dyer
Reading about the DFC36xD batch of AEC
Renown's reminds
me of a journey I made in 1971. I was off work after an accident
with an arm in plaster, and with time on my hands I decided to go home for the
weekend. I took a BCT Daimler number 9 into Birmingham, then a
Midland Red bus to Stratford, connecting with a bus to Chipping Norton.
From there into Oxford on one of the DFC-D buses, which I think must have been
adapted for OMO (don’t know why I remember that, but I do!). Then home by
a number 8.
Don’t remember how I got back, probably by train, but for some reason that journey has stuck in my memory all these years.
Some lovely pictures from Jack Cooper
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Coach Visitors to our area
Blakes MD55TUD in Wycombe on October 3rd by
Gavin Francis.
Fleet News and developments
I lack reports for this operator in our area.
Gavin Francis in Wycombe
Colour variety in Wycombe from First.
Gavin Francis variety in Wycombe
A very nice pictureview of current Carousel fleet.
Ho-Kit Lam
80530 working the 127 in Blagrave St on September
30th.
Stephen Roberts
80525 in borough bus colours in Wycombe bus station
on September 29th.
80547 in Wycombe bus station on the morning of September 29th.
Jack Cooper
See pictures in article above..
80783 with an X2 in Oxford on October 7th.
80918 has entered service today.
Jack Cooper
See pictures in article above..
including Courtney, Newbury & District
and
Thames Valley
Kevin Fuller
You may know that Thames Valley have introduced some new buses to their
fleet - A-D Enviro 200's - branded for Maidenhead and Windsor area routes.
I have managed to get a couple of pics for you today - fleet numbers 695 and
696 are seen in Burnham whilst working on route 53 between Bracknell and
Wexham Park Hospital, on 6th October.
Apologies for the part missing blinds - unfortunately a common problem for
my camera with moving vehicles!
Gavin Francis in Wycombe
Redline MX13BCK in Eden BS on October 5th.
Gavin Francis
Y24RRT on the 40 and the attached pictures complete the set Y21RRT to
Y30RRT pictures taken in Stokenchurch.
The bus was originally First DML 44314. Reg YX12AEA
We are advised that this is to be the regular bus for the 275 - E1RRT seen
at Chinnor on October 2nd.
Jim Wright
10878 in new livery on X5 in Oxford George st
Jim Wright
15969 on loan at Chipping Norton outstarion.
Strange visitor, Training bus 34817 at Chipping Norton outstation
80035 at Chipping Norton outstation
Recent transfer back to Oxford,15992 at Charlbury
Pulhams YX69NNB at Bourton on water on 801 service 6-9-25
More variety from Pulhams
London operations
Andrew Webb
Battlefield 6 is a video game released on 18 October.
Metroline's LT804 is one of several wearing this wrap to promote the game, seen
near Kings Cross on 4 October.
White Fox's latest campaign is carried on First
London's BCE47098, pictured at Piccadilly Circus at the start of route 94 on 4
October.
This former Stagecoach London Trident was one of two from The Bus Business to carry the England Lionesses on their victory parade along The Mall in July. It is now promoting a different type of football carrying this wrap for Cleveland Browns, an NFL team who played Minnesota Vikings in a match held at Tottenham's stadium in north London.
For their week in London the
Cleveland Browns set up camp at the Greenwood Sports Pub in Victoria and offered
free sightseeing tours of the capital on 2, 3 and 4 October. The bus is
seen at Parliament Square early on the final day whilst enroute to pick up the
day's first passengers.