A foggy afternoon followed by a wet morning in Thame – December 2023.

Thame is a market town in Oxfordshire sitting along the A418, about 13 miles east of Oxford and 10 miles southwest of Aylesbury with a population of 11,561. The CPM Group and Travelodge have their HQs in the town, and it also regularly features in Midsummer Murders TV series. For a town of its size there is a disproportionately high number of bus routes, some with high frequencies. In late 2023 new rural services were introduced by Oxfordshire County Council utilising government funding. 

Bus services December 2023

40 Thame - Chinnor - Stokenchurch - High Wycombe. Hourly, operated by Red Rose Travel;

110 Aylesbury Bus Station – Worminghall, The Avenue. 4 outward and 5 inbound journeys operated by Redline Buses;

111 Oakley – Aylesbury. 3 outward and 4 return journeys, operated by Z & S Transport;

112 Waddesdon – Aylesbury. 1 trip Wednesday & Friday operated by Z & S Transport;

113 Oakley - Princes Risborough. Tuesday & Thursday, 1 full and 2 partial trips operated by Z & S Transport;

120 Aylesbury Bus Station - Oxford Westgate via Stone, Haddenham, Thame, Thornhill (Park & Ride), Headington. 1 trip Monday to Friday school days only, operated by Redline Buses;

121 Thame-Thame every 30 minutes (30-minute round trip).

126 Watlington - Chalgrove – Thame. Tuesday & Thursday, 1 trip, operated by Red Rose Travel;

127 Watlington - Tetsworth – Thame. Tuesday & Thursday, 1 trip operated by Red Rose Travel; 

280 Aylesbury – Oxford, every 15 mins operated by Arriva;

321 Princes Risborough - Longwick – Thame. 1 trip school days only, operated by Red Rose Travel;

X7 Aylesbury – Oxford. Every 30 mins operated by Arriva;

X8 Aylesbury – Oxford. Peak hours only, operated by Arriva;

X20 Aylesbury Bus Station - Westgate, Oxford via Stone, Thame. Every 30 mins, operated by Redline Buses.

The 121 service is a circular route of two variants that goes hourly around Thame creating a 30-minute frequency in the town centre. Until the end of April 2023, Redline Buses had operated the route. However, in May 2023 it was announced by Thame Town Council that Z & S Transport would take over the service. On both days of the visit MK63 WZV operated the service. The Alexander Dennis E20D B29F started life with South Wales Transport in Neath, followed by a short time on loan to White Bus before joining Aylesbury based Z & S Transport.

  

In January 2024 the Arriva 280 became the X8, which had previously been for peak journeys only supplementing the 280 to Oxford. The X8 is now used for half hourly journeys between Thame and Oxford making for a 15-minute frequency along with the half hourly X7 on that section of the route contested by Redline Buses with their half hourly X20. BD12 DHV (left) and BD12 DHG are a pair of Mercedes Benz 0530’s B41F on the 280.

  

The competition on the Oxford route X20 from Redline utilizes a mixture of buses from tatty presentation older stock to anonymous almost new vehicles. Below left and centre BV73 MTF, below right, BV73 MTK - both Volvo B8RLE with MCV B38F bodies.

The two on the bottom row are: left YX12 DKA an Alexander Dennis E20D B29D new to Centrewest and later spending time with Metroline, on the right, YX63 LJE, another E20D this time with B33F body new to Nottingham. For a journey taking 1 hour and 11 minutes, neither bus types seem a particularly comfortable option.  

  

Red Rose Travel gained the contract to operate the 126 and 127 on Tuesdays and Thursdays only in late 2023 having won the Oxfordshire tender. These are new routes into Thame from villages that previously only had services towards Oxford. At rest in Thame whilst the driver headed off for breakfast is MX58 KYR, Optare Solo M710SE B21F, previously with Redline.

The infrequent 110 operated by Redline, on this occasion using SN53 LWR (left) originally a Transbus Dart SLF demonstrator having spent some time with Eddie Brown but much of its life with Redline. On the right, for the afternoon school journey, LK06 FLB an Alexander Dennis Trident H41/26D new to Metroline.

Below, operating hourly Red Rose route 40 is Y23 RRT (YX11 HPL) another AD E20D B29D originally with Abellio, later with Manchester Community Transport who converted it to single door. Later moving to CT Plus Yorkshire and then Powell’s (HTC Group - CT Plus) in Sheffield.

Finally, late afternoon produced several school services, including (left) Redline RL08 (Chinnor to Lord Williams Upper School) using PN52 XBP a Volvo B7Tl with East Lancs Vyking H47/33F body, new to Richardson, Midhurst. Whilst on the right operating Redline 762 (Dorton to Lord Williams Upper School) is LF52 UPO an Volvo B7TL with Wright H41/22D body new to Arriva North London.

In conclusion, if you fancy visiting a pleasant market town with plenty of bus activity, Thame is the place you should be heading for.

Bus and Coach World

Southampton, First departure.

Saturday 18th February 2023 saw the final day of operations by First Bus in Southampton, it removed the last vestiges of what had been Southampton Corporation Transport, admittedly now in a very sorry state. The occasion begs the question, does Southampton get the bus service it deserves?

Can the foundations of Saturday the 18th be found back in deregulation or even earlier. The council in Southampton has ebbed and flowed in its support for public transport and the associated infrastructure. In early 1970s to great fanfare, a major bus priority scheme was introduced from the eastern edge of the city all the way to Six Dials, just a short distance from the city centre. This turned out to be the last major support for public transport by the council and today all that remains of this scheme are a few traffic light priority measures. Subsequent attempts to introduce bus lanes or priority schemes have meet with resistance from council members. Only the bus gate at the cenotaph and a short stretch of the Avenue shows any initiative by the council to accommodate buses. In recent decades the city centre has undergone major redevelopment, however no provision was made for a central bus station, but 16,450 parking spaces were created, 6790 of those managed directly by the council. The metrics used by the council in their transport policy, place the city as the cheapest place to park compared to other in the table.    

The Corporation invested heavily in new buses at the end of WW2 after which a gap occurred until the mid-sixty’s and continued with Atlanteans to facilitate OMO operations, this left an aging fleet at the time of deregulation and ultimately for the staff buyout.

An unfortunate set of circumstances within the transport department management structure at a vital point just ahead of deregulation helped exacerbate the situation. Mr Armstrong had retired as general manager and Bill Lewis was promoted into the post. He became a vocal opponent to bus deregulation and resigned from the general managers post. John Owen was traffic manager, he would shortly take up the post of general manager of Thamesdown, in so doing would remain with the local authority operator until retirement. Regrettably, other managers intrusted with planning for deregulation took their knowledge and formed a company to compete with their former employer, in so doing laid the foundations for what is now Bluestar. All of this left the council company in a weak position at deregulation and the decision to sale off the operation to an employee lead buyout proved eventually misguided. Insufficient funding and misguided expansion resulted in a vote to accept an offer for the business from First Bus. 

  

Initially First Bus appeared to have little enthusiasm for the business they purchased, in part this due to their desire for rapid expansion nationally. Gradually larger swathes of the city found itself without any bus service, despite many of the districts being densely populated and previously supporting a high frequency service. There was no attempt made by the council to rectify the situation and as a consequence the situation remains unchanged today. It has only been in recent years that First Bus has made any attempt to revitalise passenger numbers with a local branding for the network. However, rather than attempt to develop a more comprehensive network, they chose instead to compete with Bluestar on already well-established routes, something Bluestar themselves are guilty of. The council only supports the X12 between City Centre and Shirley, the X11 between Lordshill and the City Centre, and the three Bitterne Hoppas. Over the tenure of First Bus in Southampton the population has grown by 50,000, but passenger growth has been a mere 9% across all operators.   

The laissez faire attitude of the council towards public transport looks set to continue. Their future transport policy until 2040 gives greater weight towards walking and cycling, unless you believe their ‘aspiration’ to introduce a mass transit system. Those of us old enough will remember the 1970s headlines and graphics in the local paper proudly showing off the monorail that would run through the city centre. Grandiose statements by politicians are for their own desire create a legacy not benefit those they represent. However, there could be a bright future on the horizon in the form of Go Ahead Bluestar. Up until now Bluestar has worked hard to sustain its network and invest in their fleet, with no opposition this could be a great opportunity for both the operator and passengers in the city, provided no one ask the city council for support.    

Bus and Coach World