Thames Transit was a bus and coach company which operated in the
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 ...
area. As well as running a number of local services, it also ran a regular service to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(via the
M40 motorway) under the ''
Oxford Tube
The Oxford to London coach route is an express coach route between Oxford and London along the M40 motorway. Operated by Stagecoach West under the brand name ''Oxford Tube'', there are up to five coaches an hour via Lewknor, Hillingdon, and S ...
'' brand. It was sold in July 1997 to
Stagecoach, and traded as
Stagecoach in Oxfordshire
Stagecoach in Oxfordshire is the trading name of Thames Transit Ltd. It is a bus operator serving the county of Oxfordshire, England. Since 1997 has been a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group, and since February 2021 it has been part of Stagecoac ...
. As of 2022 it is part of
Stagecoach West
Stagecoach West is the trading name of Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company Limited, a bus operator providing services in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Swindon, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, North Somerset and Herefordshire, in the West of England. ...
.
Foundation
Thames Transit was founded in March 1987 by Harry Blundred, a former bus driver and controller, who led a
management buyout of
Devon General
Devon General was the principal bus operator in south Devon from 1919. The name was first used by the Devon General Omnibus and Touring Company which was created in 1919. In 1922 it was purchased by the National Electric Construction Company whi ...
during the
privatisation of the
National Bus Company in August 1986. Blundred started Thames Transit from scratch in
Oxfordshire with buses cascaded from his Devon General operation on two routes:
*bus route 1 between the
Blackbird Leys
Blackbird Leys is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish and Ward (politics), ward in Oxford, England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, the population of the ward (whose boundaries may change occasionally so as to ens ...
housing estate and Oxford city centre
*coach route 100, branded the ''
Oxford Tube
The Oxford to London coach route is an express coach route between Oxford and London along the M40 motorway. Operated by Stagecoach West under the brand name ''Oxford Tube'', there are up to five coaches an hour via Lewknor, Hillingdon, and S ...
'', running scheduled express services between Oxford and London
The firm struggled under intense competition from the incumbent
City of Oxford Motor Services, but ultimately succeeded in increasing patronage through a series of innovative approaches. Among these, the use of branding was particularly successful in the case of the ''
Oxford Tube
The Oxford to London coach route is an express coach route between Oxford and London along the M40 motorway. Operated by Stagecoach West under the brand name ''Oxford Tube'', there are up to five coaches an hour via Lewknor, Hillingdon, and S ...
'' and ''Blackbird Flyer''. Later branding efforts were not always so successful, and ''Oxford Tube'' is the only
brand name
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
to survive today.
Competition remained fierce and in the mid-1990s a
price war
A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the ...
erupted, with for example a 12-journey ticket between Oxford and London costing just
£15. The price war was abandoned before these unsustainable fares could drive either company out of business.
![Marston Pony minibus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Marston_Pony_minibus.jpg)
The firm is noted for introducing
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, ...
es to Oxford. The original vehicles on local routes were sixteen seater
Ford Transits, colloquially called ''
Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...
s'' for their resemblance at the front to the
cartoon character. The buses featured a single front entrance and exit door and room for four standing passengers. They eased initial recruitment concerns because drivers did not have to hold a full PSV licence to drive them. The primary reason behind their use, however, was that Blundred felt greater profitability could be gained through running small buses at a high frequency, rather than running larger buses half-empty at a low frequency.
Expansion
In 1989 Thames Transit expanded by buying South Midland, the former country area of The City of Oxford Motor Services, primarily operating rural routes in Oxfordshire. This acquisition strengthened Thames Transit's hand against City of Oxford Motor Services, providing it with several routes where it was the sole provider.
The company then grew significantly in the early 1990s, introducing larger
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
minibuses with 32-seat capacity and buying new vehicles for the ''Oxford Tube'' coach service, which was starting to perform well against rival City of Oxford's Citylink service. City of Oxford itself had been forced to spread its defensive tactics following the South Midland acquisition, and this allowed Thames Transit to grow.
![Blackbird Flyer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Blackbird_Flyer.jpg)
In 1994 the firm bought its first midibuses: a fleet of 9.8 metre step-entrance
Dennis Dart
The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor seco ...
s. Thirteen were bought for the original number 1 route, and new branding was applied, adorning the buses with a giant blackbird called 'Bertie' and the service named 'The Blackbird Flyer'. Continuing the minibus philosophy, the buses were scheduled every four or five minutes. There was a noticeable shift of traffic away from City of Oxford as passengers responded to Thames Transit's new branding and vehicles.
![Thames Transit X9](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Thames_Transit_X9.jpg)
The new vehicle type and the use of branding proved to be a precursor for other route changes; the company later incrementally introduced the Rose Hill Runner (number 3 route running from Rose Hill to Oxford city centre), City Cavalier (number 7 route: Barton to Cutteslowe via Headington, city centre and Summertown), Kidlington Cavalier (number 7A running originally from Kidlington to St Aldates), Carousel (10/10A "city circle" service running in both directions from the city centre to Summertown, Marston, Headington, Wood Farm, Cowley and back to the city centre), and Witney Weaver (100, Oxford to Witney and Carterton), as brands for existing routes which were upgraded to new Dennis Darts. It also introduced branding on the X9
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 commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...
service running between Oxford's largest P&R, Redbridge, and the northern Pear Tree Park & Ride. The branding in this case was 'Gloria Glide', with buses featuring a picture of a six-foot female chauffeur and the slogan 'Park & Ride with Gloria Glide' – which generated accusations of sexism by the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Acquisition
In 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
City of Oxford Motor Services, significantly strengthening its competitiveness. Following an effective rebranding and new vehicles to replace the older vehicles which were looking somewhat jaded against Thames Transit's improved services, City of Oxford launched 'New Fare Deals' in March 1995, symbolically referring to Thames Transit's entry into the city. New Fare Deals reduced fares on the routes where the two providers competed, while City of Oxford withdrew from less profitable routes to increase frequencies on the most lucrative and competitive corridors. Combined with new and spacious vehicles on some routes and staff poaching tactics, this significantly weakened Thames Transit's competitive strength.
At this time Thames Transit introduced two new branded routes, The Wood Farm Woodman and The Marston Pony, in direct competition with long-established City of Oxford routes. Both routes were unsuccessful – partly because they used tired vehicles but also because they failed to run frequently enough given the attenuation of staffing under the pressure of the
bus war
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 ...
with City of Oxford.
The bus war ended in autumn 1996, with both firms withdrawing from routes and increasing fares. Thames Transit withdrew its
Park & Ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...
service and the Wood Farm Woodman and Marston Pony routes. It switched coaches scheduled between Oxford and
Heathrow Airport under a short-lived express ''Heathrow Tube'' service, back to a longer cross country Heathrow route numbered the 390, which failed to compete with City of Oxford's long-established express Citylink X70 service to Heathrow (later rebranded ''The Airline'').
In July 1997 Harry Blundred sold Thames Transit to
Stagecoach. The company was rebranded under the Stagecoach name, using ''Stagecoach Oxford'' and then ''Stagecoach in Oxfordshire'' on local routes but retaining the ''Oxford Tube'' brand name on the London express service.
In 1995 Blundred founded the
Transit Australia Group
Transit Australia Group (TAG) was one of Australia's leading mass transit specialists headquartered on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
The company operated Sunbus ( Sunbus Cairns, Sunbus Magnetic Island, Sunbus Rockhampton, Sunbus Sunshine Coa ...
, which operated the
Sunbus business in the state of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
operating services in
Cairns,
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
,
Rockhampton,
Sunshine Coast and
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
. Blundred retained the business until April 2008.
As part of the deal Sunbus was also responsible for the operation of school bus services. These were sold in 1997 to Stagecoach.
Buslink
Australian Bus Fleet Lists
References
{{Defunct British Bus Companies
1987 establishments in England
1997 disestablishments in England
Former London bus operators
Former bus operators in Oxfordshire