Oxford Tube 7am Bus Journey Time

beavercalledsteve

I live near Oxford and am thinking of applying for a job in London (an excellent career opportunity). Having dismissed the train over cost, I want to get the 7am Oxford Tube service to Marble Arch.

Coach operators never give a journey time because of traffic (around 100 minutes quoted for all journeys). This is the 'express service' which does not stop at Lewknor, Hillingdon, Sheperd’s Bush, and Notting Hill Gate. Sounds good.

Does anyone do this journey on this specific bus? If so, please give me an idea of the time it takes. I am aware it will be a relatively long time, but I am prepared to do this for the career opportunity. I just need to get an idea of the journey time before applying.

I can buy one 12 month ticket for my local bus and the Oxford Tube combined which is a huge saving, so I am not interested in the other coach providers at this time.

Thanks for your help

Jeff_Bridges_hair

No idea but it will be long and it will be variable from day to day given the state of the traffic not only on the Motorway but also as you enter London. No end of things can go wrong so if your prepared for that and your new job you want will aloow you to be late a few times a month then go for it.

beavercalledsteve

Funnily enough I've just emailed them regarding working hours (the advert does not give any clues at all). I think if they are flexible this could make the decision much easier. The nature of the work suggests I would visit other towns and cities occasionally, so that would at least give me a break from the commute.

lmcq

Hi there,

I haven't used this service before, but I would strongly suggest doing a trial journey to see how it is.

At a guess, I would say 2-3 hours, possibly more, traffic in central London is crazy.

Cardelia

I've only used that particular service once or twice, but I would say an average journey time at that time of the morning is 2½ hours for it to reach Marble Arch from the Park and Ride. Obviously if you're starting in the city centre allow more time on top of that. Traffic is fine until you get past the M25,* but the A40 is basically slow-moving until you hit the Westway. Going past Notting Hill is usually troublesome too, even if you're on the express service which doesn't stop there. It does vary from day to day though, which is why they don't publish a timetable - the traffic is simply too unpredictable.

* ETA - forgot about the bit at Wycombe where the M40 drops to two lanes. This often causes hold-ups, but sometimes you're lucky and can just sail through.