Thames Transit - Foundation

Foundation

Thames Transit was founded in March 1987 by Harry Blundred, a former bus driver and controller who, following deregulation of the UK bus industry, purchased the Devon General bus company in Devon before starting Thames Transit from scratch in Oxfordshire with buses cascaded from his Devon operation. Blundred started Thames Transit with just two routes – bus route 1 between the Blackbird Leys housing estate and Oxford city centre – and coach route 100, branded the Oxford Tube, running scheduled express services between Oxford and London.

Competition with the City of Oxford Motor Services (which trades as the Oxford Bus Company) services has remained fierce, and in the mid-1990s a price war erupted, with for example a 12-journey ticket between Oxford and London costing just £15. The price war was abandoned before these unsustainable fares could drive either company out of business, but even the regular fares remain competitive compared to equivalent rail services.

The firm struggled under intense competition from the incumbent City of Oxford Motor Services, but ultimately succeeded in increasing patronage through a series of innovative approaches. Among these, the use of branding was particularly successful in the case of the Oxford Tube. Later branding efforts were not always so successful, and Oxford Tube is the only brand name to survive today.

The firm is noted for introducing minibuses to Oxford. The original vehicles on local routes were sixteen seater Ford Transits, colloquially called 'Snoopys' for their resemblance at the front to the cartoon character. The buses featured a single front entrance and exit door and room for four standing passengers. They eased initial recruitment concerns because drivers did not have to hold a full PSV licence to drive them. The primary reason behind their use, however, was that Blundred felt greater profitability could be gained through running small buses at a high frequency, rather than running larger buses half-empty at a low frequency.