Oxford’s X90 bows out
Go-Ahead-owned Oxford Bus Company has run the final trip on its X90 service.
After over 90 years providing a service between London and Oxford and more than four decades of operating the X90 express service, a combination of competition from enhanced rail services and congestion that has worsened by 50% in two years, has forced the operator to abandon running the X90. It had tried lowering fares and altering the timetable but with numbers down 35% since 2015 the service was no longer viable. On Saturday January 4, the final departure left London at 1am, terminating at Oxford’s Gloucester Green Coach Station.
To commemorate the occasion free rides on heritage vehicles from the 1960s and 1980s were provided between Gloucester Green and Thornhill Park and Ride on the Saturday, attracting crowds of people. Phil Southall, Oxford Bus Company MD said: “It was a very sad day as the X90 came to an end. Yet there was a real sense of pride of the route’s long history and a shared passion for public transport among the many people who came and enjoyed a vintage coach ride. I drove two of the journeys and every trip was full with well-wishers.”
A commemorative booklet that chronicles the history of the coach route between Oxford and London is available for purchase from the X90 website (https://x90.oxfordbus.co.uk/).