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Oxford Bus Company is the trading name of The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd. Company Number 91106 It is a bus operator serving the city and surrounding area of
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, England. It is a subsidiary of the
Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...
.


History


Horse trams and horse buses

The City of Oxford and District Tramway Company served Oxford with
horse-drawn tram A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...
s from 1881. By 1898 its network served
Abingdon Road Abingdon Road is the main arterial road to the south of the city of Oxford, England. The road passes through the suburbs of Grandpont and New Hinksey. It is named after the town of Abingdon to the south. History Part of the road was known as ...
,
Banbury Road Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the ...
,
Cowley Road __NOTOC__ Cowley Road is an arterial road in the city of Oxford, England, running southeast from near the city centre at The Plain near Magdalen Bridge, through the inner city area of East Oxford, and to the industrial suburb of Cowley. The ...
, Walton Street and both and railway stations.
Horse bus A horse-bus or horse-drawn omnibus was a large, enclosed, and sprung horse-drawn vehicle used for passenger transport before the introduction of motor vehicles. It was mainly used in the late 19th century in both the United States and Europe ...
services developed to complement the tramway network. By the early 20th century both
Iffley Road Iffley Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England. It leads from the Plain, near Magdalen Bridge, southeast towards the village of Iffley. While it becomes Henley Avenue at Iffley Turn, and then Rose Hill, the whole stretch from the ri ...
and Woodstock Road were horse bus routes. On Saturdays only there were horse buses from
Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. Th ...
to the city centre and from Cowley village to the tram terminus in Cowley Road. In 1906 the City of Oxford Electric Traction Company took over from the City of Oxford and District Tramway Company. It planned to electrify and expand the network, but was defeated by local opposition.


Motor buses

In 1913–14, and under threat of competition from
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
and
Frank Gray Francis Tierney Gray (born 27 October 1954) is a Scottish Association football, football manager (association football), manager and former player. He played for Leeds United F.C., Leeds United, Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest, Sunde ...
, the tram company replaced its trams and horse buses with Daimler
motor bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es. 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 British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rent ...
, with the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
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 Long Hanborough is a village in Hanborough civil parish, about northeast of Witney in West Oxfordshire, England. The village is the major settlement in Hanborough parish. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,630. History An i ...
in Oxfordshire. 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 Thames Valley Traction Company Limited was a major bus company operating services to and from Reading, Bracknell, Maidenhead, Newbury, High Wycombe and Oxford and surrounding areas for 52 years in the 20th century. For many years it ran the "Re ...
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 Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represent ...
, whose Cowley factory was near the Oxford garage. One response was to move to one person operation of buses in the 1970s. After some trials, the Oxford company established the city's pioneering
park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...
bus services in 1978. The London express service began in the same year. 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 buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...
s. The South Midland company was soon resold to
Thames Transit Thames Transit was a bus and coach company which operated in the Oxford area. As well as running a number of local services, it also ran a regular service to London (via the M40 motorway) under the ''Oxford Tube'' brand. It was sold in July 1 ...
(later Stagecoach South Midlands), which introduced
minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...
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 The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...
bought Oxford Bus Company. In 2000, Go-Ahead sold the High Wycombe operation to
Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Cowley Road, Oxford __NOTOC__ Cowley Road is an arterial road in the city of Oxford, England, running southeast from near the city centre at The Plain near Magdalen Bridge, through the inner city area of East Oxford, and to the industrial suburb of Cowley. The ...
was closed in 2004, replaced by a new depot opened in Watlington Road. In July 2009, Oxford Bus Company took over
Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...
's BrookesBus contract. Go-Ahead bought
Thames Travel Thames Travel is a bus operator serving the southern part of the English county of Oxfordshire. It is based in Didcot, Oxfordshire, Didcot and is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. In May 2011 the Go-Ahead Group bought Thames Travel. Branded ...
in 2011 and
Carousel Buses Carousel Buses is a bus company based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Originally an independent company, it is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. It is grouped together with Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel, both of Oxfordshire, ...
in 2012. They now share Oxford Bus Company management but retain their separate identities. 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.


Bus location technology

All Oxford Bus Company buses and coaches have automatic vehicle location (AVL) equipment installed which works via
GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
technology. 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. The AVL equipment is also coupled to a
real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...
passenger information system A passenger information system, or passenger information display system, is an automated system for supplying users of public transport with information about the nature and the state of a public transport service through visual, voice or other m ...
at over 250 bus stop display screens around Oxford City and surrounding towns, and via a
smartphone app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on des ...
. This coupled information technology system gives the public "predicted times" of bus and coach services around Oxford City and surrounding towns. Oxfordshire County Council also uses this information technology to provide traffic-light priority for buses at some road junctions. The real-time passenger information system is managed by OxonTime, which is a partnership between various bus companies and Oxfordshire County Council.


Brands

Oxford Bus Company currently operates services under five brands:


Fleet

As of July 2021, Oxford Bus Company's fleet comprises 147 vehicles, with 5
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es, 100 double deckers, 21
coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...
, 5 interdeckers (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
minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...
es and 10 ancillary vehicles.


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 :''This list is an alphabetically ordered index of current and past operators. For a structured list of current operators, see List of current bus operators of the United Kingdom'' This is a list of bus and coach operators of the United Kingdo ...


References


Bibliography

*


External links


Oxford Bus Company
official website * * – weekly local bus news, archived from October 2002 onward {{Authority control Bus operators in Oxfordshire Coach operators in England Companies based in Oxford Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Go-Ahead Group companies Transport in Oxford Transport in Oxfordshire British companies established in 1881 Transport companies established in 1881 1881 establishments in England