Oxford Bus Company - History

History

A horse-drawn tram system first operated in Oxford from 1881. Its operation was taken over in 1906 by the City of Oxford Electric Tramway Company Ltd. This did not in fact electrify the tramway, but over the period 1913-14, and under threat of competition from William Morris (later Lord Nuffield), replaced the trams by Daimler Motor Company buses.

In 1921 the company was renamed City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd and continued to expand its operations into the surrounding countryside. From the 1930s the company was controlled by British Electric Traction with a large Great Western Railway shareholding. Most of the fleet comprised AEC vehicles in the traditional red livery with green and maroon relief.

On becoming a subsidiary of the National Bus Company in 1969, moves towards greater integration of city and country services began. In 1971 the Oxford to London coach operator South Midland (established as South Midland Transport & Touring Company Ltd in 1921), which had been controlled by the neighbouring Thames Valley Traction company, was transferred to City of Oxford and the fleet name for the entire operation became Oxford South Midland. A particularly acute problem for the operator was the competition for staff with Morris Motors LImited whose works was located close to the Oxford garage. One solution was the move to one person operation of buses during the 1970s. Following several trials, the Oxford company has operated the city’s pioneering park and ride bus services since 1978, the year in which the London express service on its present routing began.

In 1983 the operation 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 buyouts. The South Midland company was soon resold to Thames Transit (later Stagecoach) who introduced minibus competition, countered by the Oxford Bus Company under the brand name Oxford City Nipper.

In 1990 the Oxford Bus Company acquired the High Wycombe operations of the Bee Line, and ran them under the Wycombe Bus brand name. OBC was sold to the Go-Ahead Group in 1994. In 2000 Go-Ahead sold the High Wycombe operations to Arriva, who dropped the Wycombe Bus brand. In Oxford the name City Line was used before the present branding was adopted in 2000. The company's long-standing main depot site in Cowley Road, Oxford was abandoned in 2004 in favour of a new works in Watlington Road.

Recently, the Oxford Bus Company have replaced some of its older buses with the Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro. Another 11 arrived at the end of 2006; these were "Euro V", a higher specification than at that date demanded by European emission standards.