Baby Melissa Skye born on Saturday 29 March at 3.21am. Nearly 17 months old now, running around and...
Baby Melissa Skye born on Saturday 29 March at 3.21am. Nearly 17 months old now, running around and into everything! Not been on Ciao for a while, been busy with Melissa and part time work, hope to be back on here soon. 090909.
Member since:22.04.2001
Reviews:226
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We went to London on Saturday to see The Sound Of Music at the London Palladium. As accommodation is expensive in London, we decided to stay at our usual Premier Travel Inn at Didcot and drive in. However, somebody recommended the Oxford Tube, so we decided to give ourselves a stress free trip and not have to worry about parking and booked the Oxford Tube instead.
What is the Oxford Tube? Well, The Oxford Tube is a bus service that at peak times runs every 15 minutes between Oxford and London.
We were very happy with the Tube and will definitely be using it again.
There are a number of stops in Oxford where you can get on and off, namely:
Speedwell Street, St Aldgates, Gloucester Green, High Street, St Clements, Oxford Brookes University,
Headington, Gladstone Road, Green Road and Sandhills. We got on at Thornhills Park and Ride which is on the edge of Oxford.
Parking here is free and there are toilets available. At the moment it is a bit of a building site, as they are building shelters and nicer toilets for the future.
We arrived at 9am and while we were getting out of the car, 2 Oxford Tube buses turned up. One was nearly full so we got on the second one. Having bought our ticket online in advance (more later), I just handed it over and we got onto the bus. We sat downstairs and had a nice trip into London. They give a journey time of 100 minutes, but we were there in just over 1 hour. You can also get on at Lewknor on the M40 junction 6, but there are no official parking facilities there.
There are a couple of stops along the way into London, namely:
Shepherds Bush, Notting Hill Gate, Marble Arch and Victoria.
We got off at Marble Arch as this was the nearest stop to Argyll Street where the theatre is.
We then wandered around Oxford Street for a couple of hours before going to the Palladium for The Sound Of Music at 2.30pm. When we came out we walked straight back to the Park Lane pickup near Marble Arch. According to Google maps, the theatre was 0.8 of a mile from Marble Arch.
We got to the bus stop - 14B, Marble Arch Park Lane - at 6.15pm and got on the first Oxford Tube that came along 5 minutes later. The only downside of the trip home was that me and my husband could not be seated together as there were only single seats left. We did not want to wait for the next bus as we felt the same would probably happen again. I think that they should make all the single passengers fill up the bus first, leaving double seats for couples, as the same thing happened to several people. There were also people who were hogging double seats and when people where looking for spare seats they did nothing to indicate that there was an empty seat beside them.
I do not travel a lot on buses, because I live in the countryside where the bus network consists of 1 day a week to the local market, so maybe I am just picky, but there does not seem to be any manners on buses any more!
Anyway, our trip home took less than 100 minutes again, so we were pleased with that.
BOOKING ONLINE +++++++++++++++++
Website www.oxfordtube.com has full information on the bus and its service. Booking online is simple, you simply indicate where you want to get on and off, book the number of tickets you require, single, return etc, and enter your credit card details. An e-ticket was emailed to me immediately after purchase, You then need to print this ticket and the driver will exchange it for a bus ticket.
COST +++++++
We paid £14 each for a return trip from Thornhills Park and Ride to Marble Arch London. Compared to parking in London, this was quite favourable and a hell of a lot easier than finding a parking space.
The website has full details of all trips and costs and also there are substantial discounts for season tickets.
2 children under 16 can travel free with an adult paying full fare, but not on a Saturday.
Parking in Soho would have cost us between £25 and £35 for the amount of time that we were there and I understand that some of the theatres give you half of this back again, but even so, it cost us £28 for a stress free trip and day and that is worth a lot. FACILITIES ON BOARD +++++++++++++++++++
Each seat has an electrical socket so that you can use your laptop whilst on board and apparantly wifi is provided as well, free of charge. Obviously we did not test this as we were not working, but I would imagine that it is a godsend for commuters as they can work on the trip into London and home again.
A toilet is provided and was reasonably clean and tidy.
Each seat has seatbelts, plenty of space and reclining seats and the bus is fully air conditioned and the drivers are very concious of safety and will not have people standing.
There is room for pushchair or wheelchair, but only 1 wheelchair can be taken at a time.
They also provide breakfast Monday to Friday from Oxford, between 5.40 and 7am.
TUBE TIMES ++++++++++++
The Oxford Tube runs hourly or half hourly overnight and every 15 minutes between 6am and 6pm, then every 20 minutes until 1am.
Full times are available on the website.
WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yes I would, most definitely. The bus was easy to catch, stress free and made a trip into London most enjoyable. The drop off point is central, right on the edge of Oxford Street for the Marble Arch one.
We have already decided that next time we want to go to London we will do the same again. Living in North Devon, it costs a fortune to catch a train to London, so it will be easier and cheaper for us to stay near Oxford and catch the Oxford Tube in. I want to do some more sight seeing in London, so can't wait to do this again. (So far my experience of London involves 2 trips to Harrods, a visit to Windsor Castle, Madame Tussauds, Phantom of The Opera and also, 2 museums when I was a child!).
I want to go and do the full tourist bit and am looking forward to my next trip, whereas after the 7/7 in London I was put off going there for a long time.
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Thanks for such detailed information with personal experience. I will able to make decision on my next travel to oxford.
BNibbles 08.10.2007 21:09
I've often admired these (even without my anorak on!) as I drive to Oxford from west London, ironically to park in the Thornhills car park and then get a bus INTO Oxford - they really are frequent aren't they?
smudge-cat 10.06.2007 14:55
I wasn't aware of this service, I will definitely look into it next time I go to London. A very useful review.
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May 30th, 2007
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