Didcot to Stratford-upon-Avon (in the rain)
15 January 2023
ABOVE: Stagecoach Oxford 10672 (SN16 OYU), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, enters Gloucester Green Bus Station on route S3 to Chipping Norton. All photos in this article were taken on Thursday 12th January 2023.
I've arrived at Didcot Parkway station for a trip that is ultimately going to take me by bus to Stratford-upon-Avon. The station is pretty busy, both inside and out. Partly this is down to it being rush hour, but part of it is probably because long-distance trains are being disrupted by flooding further west. There's a Bristol train in platform 1 going nowhere (I discover later that it will be terminated here); a Cardiff train sneaks through on the relief line - it too won't make it all the way, and will be terminated at Bristol Parkway, arriving there 110 minutes late!
It's a wet day, but the rain has momentarily stopped (this won't last). The forecourt of the station provides a handy bus interchange for all routes.
It's a wet day, but the rain has momentarily stopped (this won't last). The forecourt of the station provides a handy bus interchange for all routes.
Didcot Parkway station forecourt, with Thames Travel 227 (SF10 OXF), a Scania N230 ADL Enviro400 on route X32 (Wantage to John Radcliffe Hospital) and fellow 906 (NK20 EKR), a Wrightbus Streetdeck, on route X36 (Didcot, Tesco Depot to Wantage)
I'm starting out for the X2 service to Oxford, which is operated by Thames Travel (part of the Oxford Bus Company within Go-Ahead Group). The bus, which starts in the town centre, pulls in right on time for its scheduled 0905 departure. The handful of people at the stop are suddenly joined by loads more who have been sheltering inside the station.
It's a Wright Streetdeck - one where the corner panels at the front are glazed; this probably costs a little more but it makes such a positive difference to the front seat views.
Our driver may be newly-qualified. He's cautious, and there's another staff member supervising him - even down to ensuring that he pushes the correct buttons on the ticket machine. First day out?
We have a busy run to Milton Park, which is a huge science and technology / business park. The audio next stop announcements that are provided on this service proclaim that we are calling next at "Stop 14", so I envisage a large bus station. But no, there are just a series of numbered bus stops all through the park (the road through runs for the best part of a mile).
There's one oddity when the announcement calls "Bus Stop 9", but that's on the other side of the road and the actual stop is number 8. That error is carried through into traveline timetables and even the Milton Park travel information leaflet.
Milton Park
The Park encourages sustainable travel, and there are eight buses per hour all day, with decent evening and weekend services as well.
After crossing the major A34 trunk road, we venture into more open countryside. The village of Steventon has a pretty, but today distinctly waterlogged, Green.
Steventon Green
The major intermediate town on this route is Abingdon. It's noticeable how many bus services run through this town, which is relatively rural and surrounded by small villages. Its proximity to Oxford will have done it no harm!
On Stratton Way there's a bus interchange, where I spot an Oxford Bus Company number 33 that I had previously seen in Didcot. A slightly-longer way from Didcot to Oxford (and starting in Wallingford) that may merit separate investigation another day!
But there are plenty of other services around, such as the convoluted route 45 from Cowley; the route of which resembles the letter J on a map.
Thames Travel 873 (AE61 EWO), an MCV eVolution, in Abingdon after a run on route 45 from Cowley - a route that is now on my 'to-do' list!
After passing the suburb of Northcourt, we have a non-stop run of about two-and-a-half miles along the A34, coming off to serve the Park-and-Ride facility at Redbridge.
We're close to the City Centre now, and it's a straight-forward run from here, but by the time we arrive, at 1015, we have added 10 minutes to the scheduled time.
Thames Travel 206 (FF09 OXF) is a Scania N230 ADL Enviro40, seen here turning from High Street into St Aldates in Oxford City Centre, on an X39 service from Reading. Nothing to do with this story, but I was in Oxford and it was so nicely posed...
If you want to press straight on to Stratford, you had best skip down to the S3 below. Before I continue the main route, I am taking a detour to try out a route that has been in the news recently - the 250 to Bicester. There was a proposal to replace this route with a Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) service at the end of 2022, but that hasn't happened yet.
The main route to Bicester is the Stagecoach S5, of which more later.
The 250 service is run by Diamond Buses, which is one of a very small number of operators that is not taking part in the Government's £2.00 fare cap scheme. It has published a statement about this, saying that it would suffer "a huge revenue loss" by taking part.
I think that's a rather short-sighted decision. When one looks at examples, from other operators, of fares that have been reduced by 86% by the scheme, it's hard to believe that those other operators are also suffering huge revenue losses. But they may just be filling some extra seats. Personally it makes me less inclined to use Diamond services over this period; it might encourage others to take the same approach.
The 250 starts at stop C4 in Magdalen Street. The stop serves buses "towards Banbury or Bicester" - apart from the main S4 service to Banbury that is; that one leaves from stop C3!
There's no mention of the 250 on the bus stop flag, although I gather it was once known as the 25A, which is shown. There is a timetable, but it's a laminated version that has been taped onto the stop.
I wish I had looked more closely at that laminated timetable. There seem to be many more journeys showing on it than are claimed to be offered by the version published on Diamond's own website:
There's even a Sunday service showing on the stop panel. I suspect the bus stop timetable was out-of-date - not good.
It's pleasing to note that the service does appear on the real-time display at the stop and, to be fair, the route number does appear on bus stop flags further along the route.
The bus turns up on time and I am the only passenger. It's a Wright Streetlite, Door-Forward version. There's a huge luggage rack taking up the space of about eight seats. Capacity isn't likely to be a problem on this route (we have 25 seats already), but it does spoil the view somewhat. Not that there is much of a view - all the windows are steamed up and one can only really see out of the front.
The fare is £5.10 - that would feel steep even if there wasn't a fare capping scheme in operation elsewhere. So I'm paying a 255% surcharge for a service that runs far less often than the rival S5 and takes longer to get to its destination! I can afford it, but there's a principle at stake here!
At the top end of the Banbury Road we pick up a couple of pass-holding passengers. But they only travel to Oxford Parkway station so could have used any of half a dozen different routes.
We follow exactly the same route as the S5 as far as Kidlington, but why would a fare-paying passenger use the 250 rather than the S5 over this section?
The 250 comes into its own as it shuns the route of the S5 onto the A34, and heads instead through the villages of Hampton Poyle and Bletchingdon. In Kirtlington (not to be confused with Kidlington), we pick up our first bona fide passenger; a lady who travels the short distance to Lower Heyford. Here. we swap her for a man that the driver knows. "Have you been waiting long," he asks, "only the other bus has broken down". It's news to me that there needs to be another bus; the timetable, with its two-hourly headway, seems to be geared nicely to a single vehicle.
We come to Heyford Park, where dozens of new homes are being built. Surely there's a potential market of bus passengers to tap here? We gain one more here but, further down, five join at once in the village centre. All bar one go through to Bicester centre; the other one leaves on the outskirts of the town.
How well would DRT work here? Well, they wouldn't have come for me for a start, as I would have been directed to the S5. And the two travelling to Oxford Parkway would just have used the next bus that came along - I'm sure they'd not be missed (bit of Gilbert & Sullivan there).
But the DRT bus, wherever it had been parked up, would have had to go and collect the rest, so it might as well have run at a regular time anyway. And surely, with a major housing development underway, there should be an effort to drum up new business for the 250, rather than kill the service off?
As I write this, I've found an announcement on the Diamond website to the effect that the operator will be "seizing (sic) operations of the 250" in February:
I think they mean "ceasing" operations, but I can't find any advice as to what the new arrangements are going to be; not on Oxfordshire County Council's website, nor on Diamond's; the latter just advises:
Now the telephone number is nonsensical! The 01786 area code is for Stirling in Scotland, but the phone number is too long anyway (UK phone numbers have 11 digits, not 12). The area code for Oxford is 01865, so, if you drop the "7" and call 01865 816000, you're likely to reach Oxfordshire County Council, although a Google search suggests that this is the number of the Council's Fostering Service...
So I don't know what's going to happen come February. Is it becoming a DRT service, or will another operator be taking it over as it is? And will that mean that fares drop to £2.00 until the end of March?
Diamond 20171 (SM19 KKT) is a Wright Streetlite DF. I have just left the bus in Manorsfield Road in Bicester, after a ride from Oxford on route 250, but the driver has already changed the display.
Do read Roger French's excellent critique of route 250 from last summer - he also has better pictures of the route and its buses!
We arrive in Bicester on time at 1200. Forty minutes later, I am boarding the S5 service back to Oxford. This is a Stagecoach Oxford "Gold" service but, although my bus is indeed a "Gold" vehicle, only about half of them on the route are. Some of the vehicles are ADL Enviro400 MMCs; others are older Enviro400s with Scania chassis. The fare, of course, is £2.00!
Spot the Difference: Two trips between Oxford and Bicester - one included in the Fare Cap scheme and the other not.
Stagecoach Oxford 10684 (SN66 WHC), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, in Manorsfield Road, Bicester.
A man boarding behind me tells the driver that he hasn't been on a bus for three years - presumably due to Covid - welcome back!
There's a slightly-disturbing young man on the other upstairs front seat - occasionally laughing maniacally, and also flicking a lighter from time-to-time. But he keeps himself to himself so no harm done.
More annoying is that the rain is falling heavily again, and there's virtually no visibility from the front seat (or anywhere else). This leads me to photograph a bus on the Banbury Road and send a jokey tweet:
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We leave Bicester at 1240, with a fairly light load. Soon after, we come to the Kingsmere Park & Ride, seemingly intended for Bicester, but just as good for Oxford I would say. There isn't a dedicated P&R route (Bicester Village - a shopping outlet - puts one on sometimes), so it's all down to the S5, for which the quarter-hourly service seems decent. A couple of people board here. Like many buses around here, the A34 provides the opportunity to tick off a few miles quickly, with an intermediate non-stop section - in this case, about five miles from Wendlebury Turn to Gosford. We're soon heading back down into Oxford, and the bus is becoming busier and busier as we go. By the time we reach Magdalen Street - the terminus - we have around 30 people on board. |
Stagecoach Oxford 15831 (OU12 FFV) is a Scania N230 ADL Enviro400, seen here in Magdalen Street in Oxford at the start of another run on route S5 to Bicester. Incidentally, the vehicle carries side-branding for route S3 to Charlbury and Chipping Norton.
Although I can pick up my next bus, the S3, in Magdalen Street, I have half an hour in hand, so I decide to walk up to Gloucester Green bus station, which is really mainly a coach station, with only a handful of local buses allowed in!
I don't find it the most friendly of places, to be honest. It hasn't got much shelter from the elements, and each bay has a closed gate across it, with instructions that the gate "is only to be opened by authorised personnel". But, as buses come in, there are no "authorised personnel" in evidence to open the gates to allow access, so passengers have to do so themselves!
The S3 starts at the railway station, but is scheduled to stand for a few minutes at Gloucester Green. Just as the bus is due, a coach pulls in and parks on our stand. Predictably, the S3 appears behind it. Someone who might be described as a Traffic Marshall, out in the open parking area, signals the bus to wait as the coach manages to drop off people, with luggage, load another group, with luggage, and then leave, all inside two minutes. My bus is then free to pull in.
The S3 has two distinct routes. Both run to Woodstock and slightly beyond, where one service runs to Charlbury and the other to Chipping Norton (hourly on each). I'm heading to Chipping Norton, and it's a lovely ride. Another Enviro400 MMC for me (some on this route are older Scania Enviro400s), and another route that is officially "Gold" branded. On such a dismal day, even on a 1347 departure, the light is getting poor and good photos aren't so easy.
The S3 has two distinct routes. Both run to Woodstock and slightly beyond, where one service runs to Charlbury and the other to Chipping Norton (hourly on each). I'm heading to Chipping Norton, and it's a lovely ride. Another Enviro400 MMC for me (some on this route are older Scania Enviro400s), and another route that is officially "Gold" branded. On such a dismal day, even on a 1347 departure, the light is getting poor and good photos aren't so easy.
An unidentified Enviro400 MMC at the Cassington Road / Cresswell Close junction in Yarnton.
We pass Blenheim Palace and, shortly after, Kiddington (not to be confused with Kidlington or Kirtlington). In Woodstock (as referenced in Colin Dexter's first Inspector Morse novel), there's a 15th Century Coaching Inn called The Marlborough Arms, with just enough light to enable a picture:
It's a brisk drive to Chipping Norton and I'm soon standing in West Street, awaiting one of the four departures from here to Stratford-upon-Avon on Stagecoach Midlands route 50 (additional journeys operate over some parts of the route).
The route is not mentioned on the electronic display at the bus stop, which is dedicated to the S3 back to Oxford. But the bus, an ADL Enviro200, arrives in good time for our 1503 departure.
Stagecoach Midlands 37175 (YX64 VNU), an ADL Enviro200, pulls out of Burford Road into West Street in Chipping Norton, at the end of its previous trip from Stratford-upon-Avon.
This route treks through wild countryside, often with little else to see. There are three of us for the first section, although both of the others leave within one stop of each other in the village of Long Compton.
There's a lovely church just beyond - the Church of St Peter and St Paul. I don't have the opportunity to get a picture, but there's one on Google Streetview of course.
I have been the only passenger for a while, but we gain three more in Shipston on Stour. One leaves us at Alderminster, but the other two stay put with me to the end of the line, at Stratford-upon-Avon.
It's now 1549. I have just achieved my aim of getting this far before dusk.
Stratford-upon-Avon, looking westwards from Wood Street towards Rother Street (left) and Meer Street (right), with the Shakespeare Memorial Fountain in view.
It's back onto a train now. Over the footbridge at Stratford-upon-Avon station to Platform 2. Lots of people are hovering on the footbridge for some reason. That reason becomes clear when the train pulls into Platform 1, and I, and several others, have to hot-foot back over the footbridge. Those who were hovering on the bridge were obviously hedging their bets. Does this sort of thing happen regularly here, then?