Oxford Bus Company

Route-branded Wright StreetDeck buses outside The Queen's College, Oxford in 2017
Parent	Go-Ahead Group
Founded	1881
Headquarters	The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd., Cowley House, Watlington Road, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 6GA
Service area	Oxfordshire
Service type	Bus and coach services
Destinations	Abingdon, Bicester Village, Gatwick, Heathrow, Kidlington, Oxford.
Fleet	~155 (February 2021)
Chief executive	Phil Southall
Website	Oxford Bus Company

Oxford Bus Company is the trading name of The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd.^[1] It is a bus operator serving the city and surrounding area of Oxford, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group.

History[]

Horse trams and horse buses[]

The City of Oxford and District Tramway Company served Oxford with horse-drawn trams from 1881.^[2][3] By 1898 its network served Abingdon Road, Banbury Road, Cowley Road, Walton Street and both Oxford and Oxford Rewley Road railway stations.^[4]

Horse bus services developed to complement the tramway network. By the early 20th century both Iffley Road and Woodstock Road were horse bus routes. On Saturdays only there were horse buses from Headington to the city centre and from Cowley village to the tram terminus in Cowley Road.^[5]

In 1906 the City of Oxford Electric Traction Company took over from the City of Oxford and District Tramway Company.^[1][5] It planned to electrify and expand the network, but was defeated by local opposition.^[6]

Motor buses[]

In 1913–14, and under threat of competition from William Morris and Frank Gray, the tram company replaced its trams and horse buses with Daimler motor buses.^[7][8]

In 1921, the company was renamed City of Oxford Motor Services Limited (COMS). It continued to expand its operations into the surrounding countryside. From the 1930s, COMS was controlled by British Electric Traction, with the Great Western Railway having a minority shareholding. The fleet livery was red with maroon and pale green relief. Most of its buses were built on AEC chassis and running gear. Numerous former COMS buses have been preserved, including a large and notable collection at the Oxford Bus Museum in Long Hanborough in Oxfordshire.

Preserved 1967 AEC Renown in City of Oxford Motor Services livery

In 1969 COMS became a subsidiary of the National Bus Company. Greater integration of city and country services began. In 1971, the Oxford – London coach operator South Midland, which had been controlled by the neighbouring Thames Valley Traction company, was transferred to COMS and the fleet name for the entire operation became Oxford South Midland.

An acute problem for the operator was the competition for staff with Morris Motors, whose Cowley factory was near the Oxford garage. One response was to move to one person operation of buses in the 1970s.^[9]

After some trials, the Oxford company established the city's pioneering park and ride bus services in 1978. In the same year, the London express service began, using its present route.

In 1983, COMS was split into separate Oxford and South Midland units. The Oxford Bus Company was allocated the Oxford city services and the London routes, and South Midland was allocated the remainder of the network. Both companies were subject to management buyouts. The South Midland company was soon resold to Thames Transit (later Stagecoach South Midlands), which introduced minibus competition. Oxford Bus Company tried to counter this with minibuses under the Oxford City Nipper brand name.

In 1990, the Oxford Bus Company acquired the High Wycombe operations of the Bee Line, and ran them under the Wycombe Bus brand name. In March 1994, the Go-Ahead Group bought Oxford Bus Company. In 2000, Go-Ahead sold the High Wycombe operation to Arriva. The company's long-established main depot in Cowley Road, Oxford was closed in 2004, replaced by a new depot opened in Watlington Road.^[10]

In July 2009, Oxford Bus Company took over Oxford Brookes University's BrookesBus contract.^[11][12]

Go-Ahead bought Thames Travel in 2011 and Carousel Buses in 2012. They now share Oxford Bus Company management but retain their separate identities.^{[13][14][15][16]}

In October 2019, it was announced that the X90 service between Oxford and London would be withdrawn from 4 January 2020, due to a 35% fall in passenger numbers since 2015 causing the route to be unprofitable.^[17][18]

Bus location technology[]

A Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530 on Woodstock Road, Oxford on route City6 from Wolvercote to Magdalen Street. The bus's bright green livery is specific to that route.

All Oxford Bus Company buses and coaches have automatic vehicle location (AVL) equipment installed which works via GPS technology.^[19] The AVL equipment installed on each bus or coach gives geographical location to within a few metres and is updating central control room every few seconds. This information technology can therefore be seen in real time at the central control room, which helps in managing the fleet.^[20]

The AVL equipment is also coupled to a real-time passenger information system at over 250 bus stop display screens around Oxford City and surrounding towns, and via a smartphone app. This coupled information technology system gives the public "predicted times" of bus and coach services around Oxford City and surrounding towns.^[20][21][22]

Oxfordshire County Council also uses this information technology to provide traffic-light priority for buses at some road junctions.^[21]

The real-time passenger information system is managed by OxonTime, which is a partnership between various bus companies and Oxfordshire County Council.^{[20][21][needs update]}

Brands[]

Oxford Bus Company currently operates services under four brands:

Brand	Used for	Services	Image
City	Local buses in and around Oxford. Most are branded with a livery and graphics specific to their usual route.	city2/2A/2B (light blue), city3/3A (yellow), city4/4A/4B/4C (purple), city5 (magenta), city8/9 (orange), city11X (two tone blue), city13 (teal), city15 (green), city35 (maroon), cityX3 (red & black), Bicester Village Shuttle (cityBV1) (black).
Park & Ride	Limited stop buses from five peripheral park and ride car parks around the city	300, 400, 500
Airline	Express coaches linking Oxford with Heathrow and Gatwick airports	LHR, LGW, OXF
BROOKESbus	Local buses linking campuses and halls of Oxford Brookes University, but open to all passengers	U1 (NU1), U5 (NU5)

Fleet[]

As of July 2021, Oxford Bus Company's fleet consists of 147 vehicles, with 5 buses, 100 Double Deckers, 21 coaches, 5 (Coaches in which there is a full size upper cabin, and a small one behind the driver, usually used for wheelchair access, which contains around 5 seats on most models), 6 minibuses and 10 ancillary vehicles. ^[23]

Model	Type	Image	Number Of Seats	Number In Fleet	Fleet Numbers	Routes Operated	Livery(s)
Volvo B11R	Coach		45	5	21-25	All Airline Routes (LHR, LGW, OXF)	Dark Blue with Airline branding.
Mercedes Tourismo			55	9	30-38
				2	39-40		Ashmolean promotional: 'Step into a million years of Art & History'
Volvo Caetano			57	5	56-60	737 to Luton and Stanstead Airports. By contract for National Express	White with National Express branding
Volvo B11R			64/63	5	67-71	All Airline Routes (LHR, LGW, OXF)	Various, including debranded X90 & 'W/AIRLINE'
Scania N230UD	Double Decker		81	2	220, 222	All 'City' routes	Generic 'City' Red
ADL Trident 2 Hybrid			77	1	300
ADL Enviro 400 Hybrid			79	3	301-303	City4/4A/4B/4C	City4 Purple
				4	305-309	City35	City35 Maroon
				7	310-317	All 'City' routes	Generic 'City' Red
Volvo Eclipse Gemini 2 HEV			73	5	351-355	City13	City13 Teal
				9	356-364	All 'City' routes	Generic 'City' Red
				2	365-366	City2/2A/2B	City2 Light Blue
				1	367	All 'City' Routes	Pride Rainbow, with 'City' branding.
				1	368		Unique graphics for the Oxfordshire Prostate Cancer Support Group.
				1	369		Unique graphics for Oxfordshire Girl Guiding.
Wrightbus Streetdeck			83	6	371-376	BROOKESbus routes: U1, NU1, U5 & NU5	BROOKESbus Grey
			101	9	651-659	City5	City5 Magenta
				2	660-661	All 'City' routes	Generic 'City' Red
			66	1	662	CityBV1	City BV1 Black/GWR Advertising
				4	663-666	CityX3	CityX3 Black & Red - No image currently available
				15	667-681	All Park & Ride Routes: 300, 400 & 500	Park & Ride Two-Tone Purple
			75	4	682-685	City3/3A	City3 Yellow
				6	686-691	City8/9	City8/9 Orange
			69	3	901-903	All 'City' Routes + BV1	City/BV Red & Black
ADL Enviro 400MMC			80	1	601	City2/2A/2B/2C	City2 Light Blue
				1	602		Chiltern Railways all-over advertising
				6	603-608	BROOKESbus routes: U1, NU1, U5 & NU5	BROOKESbus Red
				6	609-614		BROOKESbus Grey
Mercedes 0530 Citaro	Single-Decker		38	5	844-848	City4/4A/4B/4C	City4 Purple
Mercedes Sprinter City	Minibus		14	3	972-974	Previously used for PickMeUp App Bookings	Blue/Purple,
			17	1	977
Mercedes NHS Shuttle Service			17	2	955-956	Unknown	Unknown

Notes[]

Buses branded for particular 'City' Services do not always operate on their branded routes, and likewise unbranded buses can often be seen running them.

See also[]

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Hart, Harold W (1972). "The Horse-Trams of Oxford, 1881–1914" (PDF). Oxoniensia. Oxford. XXXVII: 221–225. ISSN 0308-5562.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oxford Bus Company.

• Oxford Bus Company official website
• "Oxford Bus Company". The UK Midlands Bus Image Gallery. Showbus.
• "The Oxford & Chilterns Bus Page". Malcolm Crowe. – weekly local bus news, archived from October 2002 onward