Effectively, the X88 between Northampton and Oxford was a merger of the longer distance sort-of "X" route with the "normal"! bus service to Towcester, Silverston and Syresham.
It was promoted, with branded buses, in partnership with the service 89 from Northampton via Towcester to Milton Keynes.
The small print confessed that ...
But ...
Way back in 2011, fbb wrote a blog which is here reprinted with amendments.
Lark Rise to Candleford was a British television costume drama series, adapted by the BBC from Flora Thompson's trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside, published between 1939 and 1943. The first episode aired on 13 January 2008 on BBC One and BBC HD.
Lark Rise to Confusion.
The long-running pantomime
produced by Northamptonshire County Council.
Once upon a time Stagecoach ran a service 88 from the county town Northampton to Towcester and Brackley, the seventh and eighth largest towns in the county. About four buses each day continued on to Bicester and Oxford as service X88.
The service was supported by Northamptonshire County Council and so, when it came up for retendering, Stagecoach announced:- "The section from Northampton to Silverstone is commercially viable because we can provide an hourly frequency with two buses. If we go on to Brackley we shall need a third bus and some subsidy."
"The nasty big wicked bus company is holding us poor little County Council to ransom", cried Northamptonshire in abject horror, and together with neighbouring Oxfordshire went off and found another bus company to run the Oxford to Silverstone section for fewer pennies.
Oxfordshire liked this because the new Silverstone to Oxford service now went round all the pretty "Lark Rise to Candleford" villages between Brackley and Bicester. [Fringford, below, is a typical example] The service is still nominally numbered X88 - X for Xceedingly slow! 
So the replacement tendered through service is now run by two different companies with no through fares and definitely no guaranteed connection at Silverstone.
Stagecoach publicity at Northampton bus station merely advises anyone venturing south of Silverstone to phone Traveline for information. (Oh dear!)
So the replacement tendered through service is now run by two different companies with no through fares and definitely no guaranteed connection at Silverstone.
Northamptonshire's public transport web site offers no interchange information at all on the 88 timetable - well it wouldn't, would it, because the Oxford link is, sort of, in Oxfordshire - so the "not really interested" policy applies. So you have to look elsewhere for the connecting bus and work it out for yourself. There's intergration for you!
The impressive interchange point is seen below. The white coach on the left is the bus to Oxford with Stagecoach on the right returning to Northampton.
Of course, if you want to go from Northampton to Oxford you catch a bus or a train to Milton Keynes Central station and then take the half hourly X5. 
One Friday afternoon in October 2010 Bus Users UK organised a public meeting at Brackley Town Hall as the worthy local populace were not a happy bunch. (Appropriately, the afternoon Oxford to Silverstone bus went past; running half an hour late!). They were unanimous that they wanted the return of a through Brackley to Northampton service.
Will the good folk of South Northamptonshire get their through bus back? Watch out for Gloucester Old Spots flying over Brackley.
But they did fly!
More in tomorrow's blog!
But they did fly!
More in tomorrow's blog!
Next 88 bus blog : Wednesday 24th February
I think it was James Freeman who was MD of Stagecoach United Counties at the time, who had the 'bright' idea of replacing the B10M coaches with the PS type B10M buses on both the Leicester and Oxford services. The coaches were then converted to school buses at Bedford.
ReplyDelete