sturfc
Member
Regardless of peoples opinion of the operators, its good on Carousel for being fast off the mark with this in Wycombe reverting some of the recent Arriva changes, just leaves the gap in villages on the Wycombe to Aylesbury corridor.
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Arriva to close Aylesbury and High Wycombe depots
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TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Correct - you have to legally consult with your workforce but the decision is already made. The speed of this suggests that Carousel were already aware as were the local authorities.
overthewater
Established Member
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Compared to other areas which has seen this type of closure the speed has been breathtakingly fast. They must have know for over a week at least?
Wolvercoter
Member
Shame they've not reverted to the 300 series, with 328/329 to Reading. Maybe that's me being all nostalgic with my rose tinted bins!
Yep that's a proper throwback for me as well
; used to use the 328 to commute from London Road in Reading to High Wycombe about 20 years ago! That entire route always felt like a bit of a white knuckle ride around those country roads in the dark at 50mph when you suddenly encountered a bus coming straight at you in the other direction!And in some cases eg Guildford, Southampton and Macclesfield the depots were bought/leased again by other operators very quickly
I'm unsure on the terms of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Bus Partnerships, but as part of the one in the North East there's terms in place that they must consult with the local authority before making changes. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same here. Similar happened up here when Arriva pulled out of Jesmond and it was mentioned by someone higher up at Go North East, at the time, on another forum, that they had been discussing it internally, for awhile, with Nexus hence the similar quick announcement of changes. Would link the post but it's long gone.
I'm assuming it's only been announced now as it's the minimum, or close to, time you must engage with employees.
Mgameing123
Member
New Carousel Buses services from 28th July 2024
Following Arriva closing their High Wycombe and Aylesbury depots, we are providing replacement services from 28th July 2024.
www.carouselbuses.co.uk
Sadly Carousel took all the routes except X9.
317 forever
Established Member
This in a way reverses the divestment of High Wycombe from Go-Ahead to Arriva from 2000.
It seems that the standard operator for High Wycombe will be Go-Ahead Carousel, and for Aylesbury Redline plus related companies.
It seems that the standard operator for High Wycombe will be Go-Ahead Carousel, and for Aylesbury Redline plus related companies.
It doesn't stop any other operator from registering them too if they so wished. I wonder if the High Wycombe Smart Zone ticket will continue though so any new operators arriving would not give passengers the benefit of multi-operator ticketsNew Carousel Buses services from 28th July 2024
Following Arriva closing their High Wycombe and Aylesbury depots, we are providing replacement services from 28th July 2024.
Sadly Carousel took all the routes except X9.
Mgameing123
Member
Don't think any other operator will register or else Go Ahead will just annihilate them.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I think it's already been established that there isn't enough trade for two operators (see Red Rose vs. Arriva) and hardly likely in Wycombe either.
childwallblues
Established Member
My sister has lived in Amersham Old Town since 1977 and on my visits I remembered the 353 and 362 plus Green Line 724. I can't get used to the new numbers.Yep that's a proper throwback for me as well
jackgwycombe
Member
As expected, Redline have announced that they will be making some changes following the closure of the Arriva depots in July:
Taken from Redline Twitter
The 724 didn't run through Amersham and Wycombe after 1972 - it was diverted to Uxbridg and Heathrow after that time.
childwallblues
Established Member
Forgot to say she lived in Widmer End (Haselmere) from 1970 to 1977.
Mgameing123
Member
Interesting. I wonder how much territory Redline could gain considering Carousel took most chunks of the pie.
greenline712
Member
Not a huge amount . . . a diversion via Haddenham on X20 will probably not cost any extra buses per se (they already have a 120 service that way on schooldays).
I suspect the current 130 will simply have alternate buses re-routed via Knaphill to give 2 BPH via Saunderton and 2 BPH via Knaphill . . . perhaps +1 PVR.
As an aside . . . the X9 is timetabled at 30 minutes from Aylesbury to Risborough; the 130 is timetabled at 21 minutes!! When I travelled on an X9, we waited time at Stoke Mandeville and Little Kimble, as well as at Knaphill, and STILL arrived 6 minutes early into High Wycombe!!
I reckon that one bus could've been saved at least on the 20 minute headway . . . a big drawback of schedules being compiled remotely from the garage.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Agree with @greenline712 - the pie has been divided up pretty much. The only question is outside of Wycombe (and Carousel) with the Oxford to Thame corridor. Aside from that, it's all done.
I thought that Oxford were covering Oxford to Thame via Wheatley.
Mgameing123
Member
Well Redline isn't ready to give up from what I can tell.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
No - my comment is that Wycombe and Carousel was all settled.
As I said, the only bit that is still to be resolved is Oxford to Thame as OBC have registered the 280. However, Redline hasn't made any changes. Whether that suggests that OBC and Redline will settle into peaceful co-existence on a 15 min headway between the two towns and that Redline run through to Aylesbury every 30 mins... we will have to wait and see.
Kite159
Veteran Member
And I wonder how long until Redline withdraw from the £2 fare scheme for that X20 route considering they will be the only operator between Oxford & Aylesbury.
I hadn't seen any suggestion that the X20 would divert through Wheatley village which the 280 will cover.
goldisgood
Member
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Also remains to be seen if there are changes to the 280 and 400 in September once Brookes closes in Wheatley - probably a bit off-topic for this thread, but could see Oxford to Thame becoming a bit more competitive again.
greenline712
Member
Route X20 already runs through Wheatley Village (source: Redline website and bustimes). Redline have also said they'll divert via Haddenham village.
I would hope that the 280 and X20 timetables are reasonably well co-ordinated . . . I hadn't twigged that Cromwell Avenue in Thame isn't served any more (unless there's a Red Rose route involved) . . . maybe the 280 timetable might incorporate that?
It doesn't, that's a bug with the open data - only one or two journeys a day go through Wheatley, and then just catching the edge of the village - tick on the 'all stops' option on bustimes.org and you can see the correct routing. Cromwell Avenue is on Red Rose's hourly local 121, I reckon if the 280 goes any further than Thame town centre Haddenham and Thame Parkway is more likely.
Mgameing123
Member
They won’t because Oxford Bus Company will takeover 280.
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greenline712
Member
Thanks, Parebunks . . . I'd missed that. No substitute for local knowledge!!
I guess that 280 might go to Haddenham, but if X20 is diverting every 30 minutes via the Parkway, and 120 runs every 60 minutes . . . there wouldn't seem to be much point.
Not long to wait to find out, though . . .
I guess that 280 might go to Haddenham, but if X20 is diverting every 30 minutes via the Parkway, and 120 runs every 60 minutes . . . there wouldn't seem to be much point.
Not long to wait to find out, though . . .
arrivamatt
Verified Rep
No, you couldn't. The X9 is one of those frustrating services where we looked at many options to try and cycle buses in the golden hour, but just couldn't make it in a sustainable, punctual way that promoted a simple proposition to customers. Have discussed before that customers prefer to see a consistent frequency across the day (where some other operators have different running times for every journey) which means that where traffic conditions are at their quietest, some journeys will be expected to wait time. It's a difficult balance to achieve.
The inference of putting the cost of a dedicated Network Manager or Scheduler for Aylesbury, a small depot, isn't/wasn't really a sustainable option for reasons that this thread discusses...
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