Oxford For A Pound
 

Have seen the blue buses going down Baker Street with "Oxford For a
Pound" advertised on the front.
Is it really a pound to Oxford? Or is it only if you travel at 3am or
something? How long does it take? Is it recommended?
--
CJG

Oxford For A Pound
 

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 18:22:13 +0100, CJG
wrote:

Have seen the blue buses going down Baker Street with "Oxford For a
Pound" advertised on the front.
Is it really a pound to Oxford? Or is it only if you travel at 3am or
something? How long does it take? Is it recommended?
Details at:

http://www.megabus.com/

Rob.
--
rob at robertwoolley dot co dot uk

Oxford For A Pound
 

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 18:53:42 +0100, Robert Woolley
wrote:

http://www.megabus.com/

Seems to be copying Stelios's demand-pricing idea (pre-empting his
easybus.co.uk idea)...

Wow, they're brave. Anyone willing to bet on how long it'll be before
Stagecoach (Oxford Tube) run them off the road?

Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to /dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.

Oxford For A Pound
 

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 18:53:42 +0100, Robert Woolley
wrote:

http://www.megabus.com/

Seems to be copying Stelios's demand-pricing idea (pre-empting his
easybus.co.uk idea)...

Wow, they're brave. Anyone willing to bet on how long it'll be before
Stagecoach (Oxford Tube) run them off the road?


I don't think they need try very hard, megabus are doing well enough without help.........



Warning: Undefined index: origin in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line 661

Warning: Undefined index: dest in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line 662

Warning: Undefined index: depart in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line 663

Warning: Undefined index: repeat in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line 665

Warning: Undefined index: numPassengers in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line 666





sql = SELECT * FROM vJourneys WHERE valid_from = '25-August-2003' AND valid_to = '25-August-2003'
AND ((From_Town_ID = 1 AND To_Town_ID = AND Route_ID 0) OR (From_Town_ID = AND To_Town_ID = 1 AND
Route_ID 0)) ORDER By Depart_Time;
DB Error: syntax error



Tim


Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to /dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.

Oxford For A Pound
 

With regard to a previous post, I doubt if "Stagecoach will run megabus off
the road" as megabus are owned by..........
.........yes, you've guessed it: Stagecoach!

"tim" wrote in message
...

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 18:53:42 +0100, Robert Woolley
wrote:

http://www.megabus.com/

Seems to be copying Stelios's demand-pricing idea (pre-empting his
easybus.co.uk idea)...

Wow, they're brave. Anyone willing to bet on how long it'll be before
Stagecoach (Oxford Tube) run them off the road?


I don't think they need try very hard, megabus are doing well enough
without help.........



Warning: Undefined index: origin in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line
661

Warning: Undefined index: dest in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line 662

Warning: Undefined index: depart in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line
663

Warning: Undefined index: repeat in /home/megabus/www/index.php on line
665

Warning: Undefined index: numPassengers in /home/megabus/www/index.php on
line 666





sql = SELECT * FROM vJourneys WHERE valid_from = '25-August-2003' AND
valid_to = '25-August-2003'
AND ((From_Town_ID = 1 AND To_Town_ID = AND Route_ID 0) OR (From_Town_ID
= AND To_Town_ID = 1 AND
Route_ID 0)) ORDER By Depart_Time;
DB Error: syntax error



Tim


Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to
/dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.

Oxford For A Pound
 

In message , Neil Williams
writes
Anyone know what type of vehicles they're using? The site refers to
some kind of air-conditioned double-decker without toilets - but are
they similar to (or the same as) the Oxford Tube deckers (but those
have bogs - albeit very small ones), or are they of a more bus-like
construction?

They look like old normal double decker buses.

I wonder who they're anticipating competing with with this service,
then? At a quid a ticket, you're not exactly going to rake it in, and
if the fares get much higher they'll get close to the student rate
charged by themselves (!) on the Oxford Tube or the competing Oxford
Express of around 9 quid (I think), or indeed the railways at about 12
quid with YP card. No flexibility, of course, either - you must travel
as booked - and not a lot of scope for unplanned journeys...

But at a quid each way (plus booking fee). If you fancy a trip to
Oxford Next weekend and then change your mind all you have lost is the
price of a round trip along Oxford Street.
--
CJG

Oxford For A Pound
 

Hi,

Neil Williams wrote:
On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 18:53:42 +0100, Robert Woolley
wrote:


http://www.megabus.com/


Seems to be copying Stelios's demand-pricing idea (pre-empting his
easybus.co.uk idea)...

Wow, they're brave. Anyone willing to bet on how long it'll be before
Stagecoach (Oxford Tube) run them off the road?

Unlikely, megabus.com is Stagecoach too! The Oxford Bus Company (Oxford
Express) have been sulking about it though.

Luke

Oxford For A Pound
 

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 22:09:48 +0100, CJG
wrote:

But at a quid each way (plus booking fee). If you fancy a trip to
Oxford Next weekend and then change your mind all you have lost is the
price of a round trip along Oxford Street.

True. I rather suspect it won't be a quid for all seats, though -
it'll probably rise to just below the Oxford Tube price as the seats
sell, Easyjet-style.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to /dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.

Oxford For A Pound
 

In message , Neil Williams
writes
True. I rather suspect it won't be a quid for all seats, though -
it'll probably rise to just below the Oxford Tube price as the seats
sell, Easyjet-style.

I am going to Oxford soon and tried various dates and times and all the
seats were advertised as £1. Although maybe they are booked or they just
don't run them. But there seems to be no buses around commuter times.
--
CJG

Oxford For A Pound
 

"Robert Woolley" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 20:14:07 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:


Anyone know what type of vehicles they're using? The site refers to
some kind of air-conditioned double-decker without toilets - but are
they similar to (or the same as) the Oxford Tube deckers (but those
have bogs - albeit very small ones), or are they of a more bus-like
construction?

Tri-axle Dennis Dragons.

Air-con buses from Hong Kong.

Actually they're ex-Hong Kong tri-axle Olympians. Stagecoach fleetnumbers
13601/2/5 (dating from 1990). The service started with the two F-reg
trix-axle Olympians that were new to Cumberland which, although fully
painted and branded, were only on loan from a Scottish subsidiary as the HK
buses weren't available in time.

Regards,
G.

Oxford For A Pound
 

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...

I wonder who they're anticipating competing with with this service,
then?

It's Stelios and his easyGroup who have already announced an intention to
run this type of service:
www.easybus.co.uk

You can't blame Stagecoach for getting in first to try to put him off the
idea of running on the Oxford-London corridor, although easyBus have
indicated that it's London-Birmingham that they're looking at first - have
you noticed National Express's recent adverts for this run?

Regards,
G.

Oxford For A Pound
 

Luke Ross wrote

Neil Williams wrote:
Wow, they're brave. Anyone willing to bet on how long it'll be before
Stagecoach (Oxford Tube) run them off the road?

Unlikely, megabus.com is Stagecoach too! The Oxford Bus Company (Oxford
Express) have been sulking about it though.

grin I didn't realise the X90 Oxford Express camp had been sulking.
I agree megabus is trying to syphon passengers from/to the Baker
Street area, but am also inclined to agree with Stagecoach's claim
that megabus isn't intended to compete with either of the existing
services.

Most Oxford--London passengers in my experience fall into one of two
camps: They are either season-ticket commuters, who will have a set
daily travelling pattern and a dim view of megabus; or opportunistic
travellers who decide at zero notice that they want to get to London
NOW and as quickly as possible -- often not knowing whether they're
coming back by bus, let alone on what day or at what hour. Obviously
this is something of a sweeping generalisation! But those in the
Opportunists' camp turn up at one of the bus-stops served by the Tube
and the X90, and just catch whichever comes along first [1], and are
on their phone during the journey, planning the next phase of their
day. Having to pinpoint exact journey endpoints and timings for both
outward and return before leaving the house would be quite impossible.
Oh, and the last megabus leaves Baker Street at 23h -- the established
services run all night.

[1] - but note that Next-Day returns *on the X90* fall to below the
price of a single, at £6, when leaving Oxford between 1600 and
midnight! Normal next-day return on either company is £10.

I can't comment on the Olympian megabuses, but the ex-Hong Kong ones
seem to have similar perfomance to the Oxford Tube. I caught up with
one at Hillingdon on the way in the other night, and without doing
anything illegal I could merely keep it in view. But after Hanger
Lane I was able to pull my favourite sneaky trick at the new Concord
Slip when the lights changed!

(For those wondering: yes, it _is_ the same Richard Griffin as used to
inhabit uk.transport.london up until 2.5 years ago. Still around,
just not following Usenet because (a) lack of free time (driving the
X90 every night!) and (b) lack of available news server. Thanks to
RichardJ for alerting me to this thread, which I'm dealing with via
Google Groups.)

Cheers,
--
Richard Griffin
Oxford, UK
http://www.squarewheels.org.uk/
"Do unto others and run like hell" -- Clement Freud

Oxford For A Pound
 

Hi,

Richard Griffin wrote:

Unlikely, megabus.com is Stagecoach too! The Oxford Bus Company (Oxford
Express) have been sulking about it though.

grin I didn't realise the X90 Oxford Express camp had been sulking.

According to some article in the Oxford rags :-)

(For those wondering: yes, it _is_ the same Richard Griffin as used to
inhabit uk.transport.london up until 2.5 years ago. Still around,
just not following Usenet because (a) lack of free time (driving the
X90 every night!) and (b) lack of available news server. Thanks to
RichardJ for alerting me to this thread, which I'm dealing with via
Google Groups.)

What times and what days do you do? I travel on the X90 most weekends,
armed with a student coachcard (and I fall in the turn-up-and-go
(Capital Card) category and so won't be megabus'ing it :-).

Luke

Oxford For A Pound
 

"CJG" wrote in message
...
Where is the coach park (Oxpens??) that it mentions on the web-site. I
can't seem to find it.

On the south side of the road which goes from St Aldates around towards the
Station, opposite the Westgate car park.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/

Oxford For A Pound
 

In message , Richard
Griffin writes

If you get some guy who clearly takes pride in doing good PAs, it's
probably me!

Or me :-)
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)