Thames Travel

Thames Travel is a bus operator based in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group.

History

Thames Travel was founded on 14 April 1998 by John Wright with four buses. It expanded by winning new contracts in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and taking over work from operators that have ceased trading such as Chiltern Queens of Woodcote and Tillingbourne Bus Company on 19 March 2001. Thames Travel has also benefited from operators including First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, Reading Buses and Stagecoach in Oxfordshire, giving up commercial work. However in recent years smaller competitors including Heyfordian, RH Transport, Weavaway Travel and Whites Coaches have won work that Thames Travel had operated.

In May 2011 Thames Travel was purchased by Go-Ahead Group.

Fleet

As at May 2015 the fleet consisted of 52 buses. The fleet is numbered in the Oxford Bus Company series.

The main fleet is made up of ex-Oxford Bus Company Mercedes Benz Citaros, along with a number of Optare Solos and newer Solo SRs (for use on the Bicester operation). Although all of these buses are fitted with speed limiting software that limits them to 7mph, so every customer and patron is late.