Thames Travel is a bus operator serving the southern part of the English county of Oxfordshire. It is based in

Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is south of Oxford, eas ...

and is a subsidiary of the

Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...

. In May 2011 the

bought Thames Travel.

Branded routes

River Rapids

Scania AlexanderDennis Enviro400 TF10 OXF Oxford StAldates right

Early in its history Thames Travel began a direct bus service between Oxford and Reading via Wallingford. This comprises two routes: the X40 which runs via Woodcote, and the X39 which bypasses Woodcote. The company also operates a service to Henley-on-Thames and Wallingford, which until 2017 was numbered 139, ran seven days a week and terminated at Wallingford. At the end of October 2017 Thames Travel withdrew the Sunday service from route 139, but extended the Monday to Saturday service from Wallingford to Oxford and renumbered the revised route X38. It retimetabled the X38, X39 and X40 to provide a service every 20 minutes between Wallingford and Oxford. It has branded the three routes "River Rapids" and applied prominent graphics to its dedicated fleet to promote it.

Connector

The Connector brand is used for Didcot focused services, and covers routes between

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Abingdon, Henley-on-Thames, Wallingford,

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...

, Grove, East Hanney, Harwell Campus, JR Hospital, Great Western Park and Milton Park. The Connector brand also covers the Science Transit Shuttle, which operates between Oxford and Harwell Campus and between

Wytham Wytham ( ) is a village and civil parish on the Seacourt Stream, a branch of the River Thames, about northwest of the centre of Oxford. It is just west of the Western By-Pass Road, part of the Oxford Ring Road ( A34). The nearest village is ...

and the JR Hospital, under contract from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. The Connector routes have a dedicated fleet in a livery of two-tone grey with a light green coachline, and "Connector" graphics promoting the route.

Fleet

As of November 2022 the fleet comprised 74 vehicles: 45

double-decker bus A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and also in cities such as Sydney; the best-known example is the ...

es, 27

single-deck bus A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which i ...

es and two vans. The fleet is now numbered in the

Oxford Bus Company Oxford Bus Company is the trading name of The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd. Company Number 91106 It is a bus operator serving the city and surrounding area of Oxford, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History Horse trams ...

series.

Depots

Thames Travel's depot is in

, with a capacity for more than 100 buses. Weavaway coaches rents space from Thames Travel in their depot. It also has out-stations in Reading and at Oxford Bus Company's depot in Oxford. The outstation in Reading is at the Reading Buses depot and currently has one vehicle based there for route 143.

Notable incidents

Thames Travel vehicles have been involved in three major accidents, reported in the local media. All were on the A4074 road, nicknamed locally the "13 bends of death". The first accident was on 21 July 2006. A 26-year-old woman was killed when her car collided head-on with a Thames Travel bus. It was found that the woman was taking avoiding action to prevent her car from colliding with two cars that were coming towards her, whose drivers had been recklessly overtaking numerous other cars before the accident. As a result of the collision both vehicles caught fire and were completely destroyed. The two brothers arrested after the incident were convicted and jailed for a total of 15 years for the accident. The second accident was on 28 January 2008. A Thames Travel single-decker bus collided in fog with a

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

that was turning off the road across the bus's path. The Land Rover landed on its side; the bus in a ditch. The accident was on the A4074 at its junction with the B4526 road. Five people were injured. The third accident was on 14 October 2014. A Thames Travel bus collided with a van on the A4074, leaving the bus driver and a passenger injured.

References

External links

Thames Travel
official website * – weekly local bus news, archived from October 2002 onward {{Bus companies in South East England 1998 establishments in England British companies established in 1998 Bus operators in Berkshire Bus operators in Oxfordshire Transport companies established in 1998 Transport in Reading, Berkshire