The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

Well, the brand is no more at least - it's back to just being called the
X90.

X90 webpages:
http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=261

www.flickr.com/photos/59115230@N06/6831486238/

From the Oxford Bus Co's front page:
http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/
"Monday 5th March sees the launch of the new look X90 Oxford-London
service. Connect with the capital in 100 minutes (depending on traffic).
X90 is fast and frequent and takes you direct to London serving Baker
Street, Marble Arch and Victoria."


I did think the Oxford Espress was perhaps a slightly daft brand, but I
guess that when you're up against the Oxford Tube, with it's very strong
brand recognition - to the extent that, for many at least, it's pretty
much synonymous with the Oxford-London coach route - then trying to
create an equivalent name for yourself is worth a shot.

However it's been called "Oxford Citylink" (dating from the 80's?),
which was ditched for "Oxford Express" in 2000, which in turn then
became "Oxford Espress" in 2004 [1]. Maybe sticking to plain old X90 is
best.

(Actually, thinking about the stories of trans-Atlantic tourists ending
up careering up the M40 on the Oxford Tube whilst trying to get to
Oxford Street, I wonder if Oxford Espress might have fooled a few too,
what with the slight phonetic similarity, if enunciated clumsily, to
"Oxford Circus"...?)

-----
[1] Branding dates from wonkypedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_to_London_coach_route#Privatisation_and_com petition

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

On Mar 16, 4:08*pm, Mizter T wrote:

*From the Oxford Bus Co's front page:
http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/
"Monday 5th March sees the launch of the new look X90 Oxford-London
service. Connect with the capital in 100 minutes (depending on traffic).
X90 is fast and frequent and takes you direct to London serving Baker
Street, Marble Arch and Victoria."

I did think the Oxford Espress was perhaps a slightly daft brand, but I
guess that when you're up against the Oxford Tube, with it's very strong
brand recognition - to the extent that, for many at least, it's pretty
much synonymous with the Oxford-London coach route - then trying to
create an equivalent name for yourself is worth a shot.

It was called the Oxford Express, then they got some new coaches and
renamed it to try, I guess, to bring in the cafe culture thing.

It's a most odd move, though, given that they've now removed the
number from the Airline services to replace it with LHR, LGW or OXF
depending on direction. I think that (as with Trent Barton) is rather
unhelpful, as a number serves to very clearly identify a bus route,
even where you have other branding.

Neil

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

On Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:08:51 +0000, Mizter T wrote:

the Oxford Tube

I had a look at their website. On the front page they say:

"With coaches every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day you will never have to wait
too long to get to Oxford or London in complete comfort"

However, the timetable at http://www.oxfordtube.com/tubetimes.php shows a
much lower frequency, at times a low as hourly. Am I missing someting?

--
jhk

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

"With coaches every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day you will never have to
wait too long to get to Oxford or London in complete comfort"

snip

The home page http://www.oxfordtube.com/index.php actually has ""With
buses **from** every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day ......" (emphasis
added).

Their copywriters will thank you for confirming the success of their
drafting so as to get you to miss the "from". But you may possibly take
some comfort from the fact that AIUI that trick only works with people
who read English well. So it doesn't work with visitors who (like me)
have to tackle any language other than our native tongue pretty much
word by word.
--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

In message , at 08:23:01 on Sat, 17 Mar
2012, Robin remarked:
"With coaches every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day you will never have to
wait too long to get to Oxford or London in complete comfort"

snip

The home page http://www.oxfordtube.com/index.php actually has ""With
buses **from** every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day ......" (emphasis
added).

There's buses in Nottingham with "up to every 8 minutes" written on
them. Which defies parsing.
--
Roland Perry

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 08:23:01 -0000, Robin wrote:

"With coaches every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day you will never have to
wait too long to get to Oxford or London in complete comfort"

snip

The home page http://www.oxfordtube.com/index.php actually has ""With
buses **from** every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day ......" (emphasis
added).

Their copywriters will thank you for confirming the success of their
drafting so as to get you to miss the "from". But you may possibly take
some comfort from the fact that AIUI that trick only works with people
who read English well. So it doesn't work with visitors who (like me)
have to tackle any language other than our native tongue pretty much
word by word.

I used copy and paste from the flash at their front page. Here is a
screenshot: http://imgur.com/l40dy .

Beeing Norwegian, English isn't my primary language, either.

--
jhk

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 08:23:01 on Sat, 17 Mar
2012, Robin remarked:
"With coaches every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day you will never have to
wait too long to get to Oxford or London in complete comfort"

snip

The home page http://www.oxfordtube.com/index.php actually has ""With
buses **from** every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day ......" (emphasis added).

There's buses in Nottingham with "up to every 8 minutes" written on
them. Which defies parsing.

Similarly the Cambridge Park and Ride buses with "up to every 10 minutes".

--
Colin Rosenstiel

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

In message , at 12:37:48 on
Sat, 17 Mar 2012, Jarle H Knudsen remarked:
The home page http://www.oxfordtube.com/index.php actually has ""With
buses **from** every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day ......" (emphasis
added).

It doesn't.

Their copywriters will thank you for confirming the success of their
drafting so as to get you to miss the "from". But you may possibly take
some comfort from the fact that AIUI that trick only works with people
who read English well. So it doesn't work with visitors who (like me)
have to tackle any language other than our native tongue pretty much
word by word.

I used copy and paste from the flash at their front page. Here is a
screenshot: http://imgur.com/l40dy .

I agree. It says simply "With coaches every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day
you will never have to wait long..."

And even with *from 10 minutes* that's an exaggeration compared to the
timetable, which has at best "Every 10-15 mins" from 0800 to 1950 (and
fewer at other times of day).
--
Roland Perry

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

In message , at 06:45:22
on Sat, 17 Mar 2012, remarked:
There's buses in Nottingham with "up to every 8 minutes" written on
them. Which defies parsing.

Similarly the Cambridge Park and Ride buses with "up to every 10 minutes".

There's a "glass half full/half empty" issue with these claims.

I read them as "you'll always have to wait at least 10 minutes for a
bus", and it says nothing about how many tph they are offering (the
gullible assume it's 6tph of course).
--
Roland Perry

The Oxford Espress is no more...
 

On Mar 17, 8:23*am, "Robin" wrote:

"With coaches every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day you will never have to
wait too long to get to Oxford or London in complete comfort"

snip

The home page http://www.oxfordtube.com/index.php*actually has
"With buses **from** every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day ......"
(emphasis added).

No, it doesn't. (And they call them coaches, not buses.) It says what
Jarle quoted above.