Thames Travel unveils Milton Park buses livery

Thames Travel has launched its newly branded Milton Park buses livery as part of a partnership with Milton Park.

It follows the introduction of substantial improvements to bus connectivity launched by Thames Travel and Milton Park in January, which includes new direct connections to Headington, Wantage and Grove and improved service to Oxford, Didcot Parkway and Abingdon.

This week Thames Travel unveiled three branded buses designed to highlight the services to passengers and celebrate the growing partnership with the Park.

Further improvements are due to be introduced from April, including the establishment of a new direct service to southern areas of Didcot and the southern section of the Great Western Park development.

The services provide enhanced connectivity between Milton Park and major residential areas, rail services, and Oxford.

Milton Park employees can travel from anywhere in the Didcot area to Milton Park using their special employee tickets for a subsidised price of £20 per year.

As one of the leading science and technology communities in Oxfordshire and home to 250 companies, the partnership benefits the park’s occupiers, visitors, and local communities.

The new buses feature decals which show the what3words the routes’ start and finish points so passengers can easily find the pick-up and drop off locations.

what3words is a free app that divides the world into three-metre squares and gives each one a unique address made of three words: a what3words address.

For example, the Didcot station bus stop is at ///regrowth.butterfly.presuming and ///local.courier.librarian for St Aldate’s in Oxford. All go to ///scores.honey.ambitions, which is the destination for the Park’s Innovation Centre. This may be a sign of things to come, with what3words innovative location mapping soon likely to become more integrated into transport journey planning.

There are 22 ultra-low emission Euro IV buses operating on the Milton Park routes between 6am and 11.30pm daily. They are all equipped with Wi-Fi and contactless payment solutions, with many also having USB charging sockets and audio-visual next-stop announcement systems.

Phil Southall, managing director of Thames Travel, said: “This represents the next step in our partnership with Milton Park and our collective investment, along with Oxfordshire County Council, in providing improved connectivity in Oxfordshire. The newly branded vehicles look fantastic and are designed to help improve awareness of the services within the community.

“The new service means Milton Park has unrivalled direct bus connections to a wider range of locations, with faster journey times and improved ticketing options, to make bus travel easier. We look forward to welcoming more passengers as lockdown restrictions begin to ease in the coming months.”

Veronica Reynolds, sustainable travel advisor, Milton Park, added: “At a time when people are starting to consider returning to work, they are also evaluating how they can travel around more comfortably, sustainability and economically. The unveiling of the buses’ new livery is a great alternative travel mode offering people the opportunity to relax, read or work on the bus while saving the average £162 per month[1] that it costs to keep a car on the road.

“Having more regular buses going between Oxford and the Park helps our customers to retain and attract staff. If you live in Didcot, switching to the bus means you can travel to and from Milton Park for just £20 a year, which means that we can help people get to work and save money.

“By taking cars off the road, we can all work towards improving air quality and reducing traffic congestion. We hope that people enjoy seeing the new livery and experiencing the enhanced services.”

Thames Travel is the sister company of Oxford Bus Company. It employs 150 staff and has a fleet of more than 60 vehicles, including 40 ultra-low emission models, operating in South Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The launch of the new services created 15 new jobs at Thames Travel’s low-carbon depot in Didcot.