MidlandRed.net

Most of you will have seen that Stagecoach (Group) have placed a large order for new buses this year. The reports say that Oxford will receive some, but in face it will be 15 vehicles going to Witney depot for their Service S1 into Oxford City Centre.

Of the displaced Witney vehicles, 3 are being transferred to other Stagecoach operations, and 12 will be cascaded to other depots at Stagecoach West. First deliveries are expected in August 2023.

Oxford depot will start receiving their first fully electric double deck buses at the end of 2023 or early 2024, for use on routes solely within the City of Oxford. These vehicles are being ordered with the aid of a large grant awarded to Oxford earlier in the year, and the Oxford Bus Company will also be getting vehicles from this grant.

Update to the above...

The 15 buses due at Witney depot should have arrived in August but were delayed and are now expected in November 2024. Twelve buses from Witney are being cascaded to Bristol for use on Service 9 Park and Ride (won from First earlier this year), which needs low emissions buses to enter the City. The service is currently being run with loan buses from Swindon and Cheltenham depots... who are keen to get them back!

The 55 electric buses for Oxford depot are also slightly delayed and are now expected in early 2024 to enter service in March of that year. Work has started installing the charging points at the site previously used for overnight storage of the Oxford Tube coach fleet. This site will be home to all the new electric buses, with basic office facilities built to make it an outstation. The remaining diesel buses and all the coaches will be housed at the depot on Horspath Road.

On the subject of the Tube coaches, five additional vehicles have been added to the fleet (only four have arrived at time of writing) for a service uplift this weekend. This will see the main trunk route running up to every 8 minutes between Oxford and London during the Saturday peak (Saturday is the busiest day), and extra destinations added Mondays to Fridays to give new commuter links from Carterton and Witney to London, and a new hourly service between Oxford, High Wycombe and London.

Saw 2 yellow and blue ones in Victoria earlier

That would have been 50453 and 50454, two of the ones that arrived from Scotland last week. The other was 50452 but that hasn’t been out in service yet, followed by another yesterday that stopped off in Birmingham on it’s was down to have the air conditioning fixed at a contractors.

One of the 15 new ADL E400MMC for Witney depot.

5 or 6 have been delivered so far, but they haven't entered service yet. They will displace some of the 22 69-reg ADL E400MMC that are already at that depot. The first cascades will replace the last of the 10-reg ADL E400H from Oxford, which will go for scrap due to the hybrid system being past it's best. The rest will go to Bristol depot.

These have now started to enter service at Witney depot. Fleet numbers are 11747-11761 inc.