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New Brookesbus operator offers free wi-fi Internet (From Oxford Mail)
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New Brookesbus operator offers free wi-fi Internet
3:13pm Tuesday 30th June 2009
PASSENGERS who use Oxford’s Brookesbus services from tomorrow will be able to connect to the Internet while reclining in leather seats, as a new firm takes over the university routes.
The Oxford Bus Company has taken over the services – which carry 1.7 million passengers a year to and from Oxford Brookes University’s campuses in Headington, North Hinksey and Wheatley – from Stagecoach and has made a £2.2m investment in 11 new double-deckers.
The change means that the U1 and U5 routes will be operated by 80-seat Scania buses with leather upholstery, WiFi Internet connections, air conditioning and real-time travel information screens.
The new buses comply with the latest Euro V EEV exhaust emissions standards. Two of the buses were due in service tomorrow, with the rest gradually entering service between now and September.
Stagecoach had held the contract to run the routes for the past six years, since the university decided it needed its own dedicated bus connections, although the services can also be used by members of the public, as well as students and university staff.
Louisa Weeks, operations director of the Oxford Bus Company, said: “From today, passengers on routes U1 and U5 (and night-time NU1 and NU5) will notice a change to their journeys.
“By the start of the September term, all 11 of our new vehicles will be in service, offering passengers a number of firsts for Oxford Bus Company local services – leather seats, onboard information screens and free wi-fi access.”
The new vehicles will also be fitted with CCTV to enhance safety.
A spokesman for Stagecoach said: “The BrookesBus was put out to tender, and we were unfortunate not to be awarded the contract for the next five-year period.
“We would like to thank the drivers and passengers of BrookesBus for their support over the past six years.
“We will continue to run route 10, serving Cowley Road, Wood Farm and Headington, which has been extended this week to include a new evening and Sunday service, and route 7C, which provides a frequent link from the city centre to Gipsy Lane.”
Full details of the new services are available at brookesbus.org
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Your Say YourOxford
tonybrett, Oxford says...
3:55pm Tue 30 Jun 09
On the latter post - I expect the Brookes Bus service is better quality than the normal Oxford Bus Services because Brookes is paying for it to be so. Other services have to run on a commercial basis and when cowboys like Stagecoach are allowed to run with such low driving standards and such awfully polluting buses it becomes hard to run a quality service at a competitive price.
Methinks their (lack of) driving standards and quality of buses might be why Stagecoach lost the Brookes contract.
Well done Oxford Bus!
(and yes, I was a member of the OBC stakeholder board a few years back but have no commercial interest in OBC)
jockox3, Headington Hill, Oxford says...
4:03pm Tue 30 Jun 09
Sa3, Oxon says...
10:15pm Tue 30 Jun 09
Louisa Weeks with one of the new buses
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Tom Daily, oxford says...
3:26pm Tue 30 Jun 09
Good grief, talk about flying first class!
Can the Oxford buss company comment on why their main service of providing bus service for the rest of Oxford is of a poor standard and not provided with similar luxuries?